


The One Where They Sell Dragon Eggs

by JurisfictionAgent99



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Derek and Stiles Go On an Adventure, Derek needs a friend, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-19
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2017-12-30 22:20:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 50,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1024057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JurisfictionAgent99/pseuds/JurisfictionAgent99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek needs a friend. Ever since Kate happened he has felt isolated from the rest of the world. He just wants someone who understands him, and who doesn't judge him based on what happened before. Now that the Ashwick Family is threatening the Hale family business he needs an ally more than ever. </p><p>Apparently the universe decided the best way to help him was by sending him on a quest with Stiles Stilinksi, the new dragon egg merchant, to reunite the egg of the Dragon King with its family before war breaks out in the kingdom. </p><p>This quest will either give Derek his life back, or end it once and for all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Ashwick Annoyance

The burn on Derek's back had just about finished healing. It was about damn time, he needed to be back at work a week ago. The Ashwick family was trying to encroach on his family's territory and Derek was not about to let them get an inch. His family had worked hard for what they had achieved and it was not going to be taken away from them. Every threat only made Derek hold on tighter. He couldn't fail them again.

Derek reached the stall early, before the sun was even up. He had to be here to receive their new shipment of dragon eggs. The Ashwicks had implied that something might happen if the Hales weren't careful so Derek decided to supervise delivery himself.  Laura had followed the shipment from the border all the way to the inner city. So far, all was well. When the eggs arrived Derek inspected every crate and found that everything lay undisturbed.

Derek heaved a great sigh, finally able to really breathe again. He hadn't told his family how worried the threat had really made him; they wouldn't understand, they never really did anymore. While the new threat had made them cautious it didn't live inside them they way it lived in Derek, growing like a choking weed. He had begun to dream of the havoc the Ashwicks could wreak and would wake up sweating, heart pounding, with no one to confide in. They had stopped listening already.

Alone in the stall, he began setting the new merchandise out in preparation for the day's clients. The Hale stall was not large. The family name was long established; they didn't need glamour to draw people in. A deep blue cloth edged in gold tassels covered the stall creating the roof and two side walls. The front had two rich gold cloths hanging down with enough space between them to give entrance to the stall. The eggs sat on small poufs, each on its own small wooden shelf in one of the many cases that lined the walls.

The new eggs went on a small table in the center of the stall, built to show off new additions. The rest were arranged in the vacant spaces around the stall.

Derek was hungry after unpacking. It always took him the longest because of the care he showed each egg. The rest of the family would dust each egg off and put them up, but not Derek. He treated each one like the miracle it was, polishing until not a speck of dirt was left and whispering to the it about the greatness inside it while he worked. He loved the eggs and everyone who saw him with them knew it.

Pulling the gold cloths closed Derek left the shop and walked down the bazaar to the food market. No one called out to him as he walked; he might as well have been walking down a deserted street. Whenever Laura came this way it seemed as though every vendor called hello to her or tried to engage her in conversation. With Derek that never happened. He saw the looks people gave him, he knew what they were thinking about him, but they never tried to talk to him and Derek never said hello. He wouldn't go where he wasn't wanted.

"Hi, Derek," Danny said as Derek walked up. Danny was the only exception, he always said hello to Derek. Although it would be difficult to make a sale without speaking to the customer, Derek was pretty sure Danny was just being friendly. It was a sad thought, but this was usually the happiest anyone ever was to see Derek anymore. He wasn't even greeted this way when he got home.

"Hello, the usual please," Derek said and nodded at Danny. A lovely dimpled smile grinned back at him.

"Sure thing," Danny turned to get the meal ready, "anything for my best customer."

"I can't help it if you have the best food in this place," Derek said defensively.

"Whoa, learn to take a compliment," Danny turned around, steaming box in hand, "Here you go, enjoy."

"Thank you."

Derek paid and left. He ate food from Danny's stall every day, it was delicious, and none of the others seemed comfortable with him around. Sometimes it felt like the world saw him as though he walked through it swinging a large sword at anyone he saw, when really he carried a shield. Why couldn’t they see that?

As always the Hale stall ran a steady business throughout the day, the new eggs proving to be quite popular. Everything was going well until Derek was preparing to close for the night.

"Well, well. Here all by your lonesome," a voice like smooth ice said as Derek counted up the days earnings. He looked up to see the oldest Ashwick son, Porter, leaning against the entrance, his crisp suit completely out of place in the dusty bazaar.

"What the hell do you want?" Derek asked coldly, walking out to face him and crossing his arms.

"Just thought I'd check in on the new merchandise handsome. It did arrive today didn't it?"

"Yes it did. Now get out of my stall." Derek had no patience for this man. His family was scum and the Hales would give them nothing.

"Oh Derek, is that any way to speak to a guest? Don't you want to make a good impression?"

"Not for you, now get out of my shop or be removed from it." Derek stared him down. Finally the intruder turned to leave.

Derek breathed a sigh of relief. Hurling the man bodily from the stall wouldn't have improved their standing in the public eye. Legally there was nothing the Ashwicks could do to oust the Hales, they had owned the stall for thirty years, paid in full. They even owned the land it sat on. Therefore the Ashwick method of getting what they wanted was intimidation and making the Hales increasingly uncomfortable in their own space. So far it was only working on Derek.

Derek had looked into the family's background and found out that they had done something similar in three other towns. They tormented the proprietors so much that in the end they had packed up and moved away thereby giving the bullies what they wanted. It would not happen a fourth time.

Porter was the only one he had seen so far, the rest of the family didn't like leg work it seemed. Even Porter never came directly into the stall. He would always lounge against one of the entrance posts that held the roof up. Derek assumed it was a way of keeping themselves clean in the eye of the law but it got on his nerves.

At least the trouble with the dragons was good for something. The king, believing that war with the dragons was imminent had ruled that any law breakers were to be conscripted rather than imprisoned. While the Ashwicks may be bullies, fighters they were not. They wouldn’t do anything that might get them thrown in the army.

The trouble had started when it had reached the people that the dragon’s king was dying and no new heir could be found. If no new heir was found, the long standing agreement with the humans might crumble and war may erupt.

Surprisingly, that thought wasn’t troubling to Derek. He hardly ever thought of it. And if it kept the Ashwicks on the right side of the law, then it wasn’t all that terrible to him.

He tried to put the incident with Porter out of his head and finished closing the stall for the night.

* * *

"Was there any trouble at the stall today?" Laura asked as Derek walked into the kitchen that night.

Derek grabbed a drink of water, "Not really. The eggs arrived with no damage, but Porter stopped by at the end of the day. If he thinks he can intimidate me he's out of his mind. I got him out pretty quick."

"We have got to get these guys off our backs."

"The sooner the better. They better not try to scare our customers away."

Laura thought a moment, "The people who buy from us are a pretty tough crowd, they won't be easy to chase off." It was true, some of the clients they had dated all the way back to the original opening of the stall. People that loyal wouldn't run at the first sign of a new threat.

"As long as we stand together they won't be able to drive us away, but seriously, they need to go."

The Ashwick family operated using intimidation tactics. If they could cause the Hales to vacate they would be able to take over the abandoned property. Too bad they had picked the wrong family to try scare tactics on. They had survived one attack already and it had only made them stronger.

The others didn't worry the way Derek did, but they were ready for the Ashwick fly to quit buzzing around their heads.

* * *

At the stall the next morning Derek noticed that some of the eggs looked off. He quickly went to check each of them for damage but found none. He was relieved they were unhurt but was upset they had been disturbed. The fact that someone had dared to break into the stall and mess with the merchandise bothered Derek the rest of the day. He knew something had to be wrong with the eggs but he couldn't figure out what.

He kept checking them during the day certain that this time he would find the flaw, would figure out how they had been tampered with, but he couldn't find it. It was driving him up the wall. To top it all of, that night Porter showed up again.

"You look stressed, Derek. You're working too hard. It would be so much easier if you didn't have to come here every day." He smiled maliciously at Derek, looking like a snake about to strike. Derek was waiting for a forked tongue to come out.

Derek decided to ignore him today. Engaging with him would earn him nothing. He was working on polishing the eggs so the daily dust of the bazaar wouldn't tarnish their beauty. Each egg was a wonder to look at, they came in a myriad of colors and each one looked like a tiny swirling galaxy was being kept inside. The eggs were like precious gems, things to be treasured and kept safe.

Porter was still lounging against the doorway. "I heard you have an inspection coming up, Hale. I hope it all goes well for you."

He was gone by the time Derek looked toward the door. There _was_ an inspection coming up tomorrow; they came every six months. Was Porter planning something? It was important that all dragon egg sellers kept a clean stall and properly maintained eggs and Derek made sure they did. Failure to do so could result in losing their seller's license but every inspection the Hales did exceptionally well.

Derek hadn't been worried until just now. It always went well but now he was sure Porter had done something that would mess them up. Something had to be wrong with the eggs and Derek wasn't leaving until he figured out what. He gathered all the ones that had seemed out of place that morning. The stall had a back room blocked by a curtain. He laid the eggs on the straw kept back there, then walked around the entire stall to check for anything else out of place. Two hours later he hadn't found anything amiss and decided that whatever had been done had been done to the eggs waiting in the back room.

Around three in the morning Laura came to the stall looking for Derek. "Why are you still here?" she asked as she walked into the back room.

"I can't figure out what's wrong with these eggs," Derek told her as he wiped a hand down his face. He was exhausted from being up so late, and frustrated that he couldn't find the problem. "I've been looking at them for hours but they seem fine. They're not fine, I know they're not, but I can't prove anything. I don't even know what _might_ be wrong with them." Derek sounded completely on edge, there was a problem and he refused to let his negligence hurt his family. Every time he thought of going home for the night the terror inside him awoke and glued him to his seat again.

"Here, let me look," Laura said, taking one from the table Derek was sitting at. "What have you tried so far?" She turned the egg over in her hands, looking for any flaws in the shell. She didn't expect to find any; Derek was worrying for no reason. The Ashwicks wouldn't do anything that could get them in trouble with the law, they were cleverer than that. But if their plan was to drive Derek to madness they might have a fighting chance.

Laura, the entire family really, was worried for Derek. For years they thought he was alright, but in the last few months they had come to realize he had never fully healed from Kate. The problem had burrowed down below the surface and grown. The poison she had left in Derek's head had spread, entangling his entire being. She didn’t think even Derek realized what a stranglehold it had him in.

"I've gone over each of them with the magnifying glass, I've weighed and measured them but I can't find anything wrong."

"Then maybe nothing is wrong with them. Porter is just trying to get into your head and you're letting him. The eggs are fine; he's only trying to convince you that they aren't." Laura put the egg back down. "Come on, it's time to go home."

"But the eggs-"

"We'll put them back in the morning. I'll even come with you tomorrow for the inspection."

Derek warred inside himself. He was exhausted and he longed for his bed. The pillows were calling him, he could hear them. Laura was probably right; he knew the eggs better than anyone else, if he couldn’t find a problem it was because there wasn’t one. But he still wanted to look just once more. No, he told himself, they are fine and you are not, go home.

"Fine, you're right. Let's go." Derek put out the lamp and left the stall with Laura. After locking up for the night they went home. Derek thought he wouldn't be able to sleep for worry but he passed out as soon as he touched the bed.

The next morning he was stiff with worry. It seemed to lock his joints and make him even surlier than usual. He stood over Laura as she ate breakfast.

"Hovering will not make me go any faster, Derek. We are going to be early as it is."

"There's nothing wrong with being early," Derek said to the back of her head. He wanted to be at the stall ten minutes ago but Laura would not be hurried.

"We will be early, Derek," Laura turned to look at her brother. "Derek," she said, putting her hand on his, "it is going to be okay. The eggs are fine. You checked them for hours. You love them and you know them better than any of us. If something was wrong with them you would have spotted it right away. Okay?"

Derek heaved a sigh as he looked at his sister. "I still want to be early."

Laura rolled her eyes, but finished eating and got up to put her bowl in the sink. "Okay, I'm ready. Lead the way."

They made it to the stall in record time. Derek had somehow convinced himself that they would be walking into a ruin, but the stall was unharmed. He hurried to unlock it and check the inside. Everything seemed fine. He was relieved, but still convinced that something would go wrong before the inspection. Laura was right, Porter had managed to worm his way inside Derek's head. This wasn't the first time either; maybe he was just more susceptible to mind games than other people. That was part of what worried him. He kept thinking back to the time he had been completely taken in, so young, so trusting. Now it made him over cautious, always assuming that he was being duped and trying to find out how it was being done; always looking for what was being hidden from him.

It made life difficult for Derek. Most people weren't trying to pull the wool over his eyes but he could never be sure. He second-guessed almost everyone. Only his family and a few close friends escaped his paranoia.

The inspection went smoothly and Derek was able to breathe properly again. It was the same inspector who had been coming for the past few years. She was a reliable woman who always did a fair and thorough job. Just like in the previous assessment the Hale stall received a perfect score. She praised Derek for his excellent work keeping up the stall and left.

"See, Derek," Laura squealed, as she knuckled his hair. "I told you it would be fine. And she complimented you as always. See, no problems at all. It's just that scum Porter messing with you."

"Yeah, guess so," Derek said shaking his head and stretching. He had been tensed up all day so it felt good to finally relax.

"I was thinking that we should get a security system for the stall,” Laura said.

"We've never needed one before."

"No one has ever tried to oust us before," Laura countered. Normally people left egg sellers alone; no one bothered the merchandise. Now someone was actively targeting them. A security system might help put Derek's mind at rest. 

“Okay, I’ll get it.” Derek felt warmth spread in his chest. Did this mean that Laura was taking the threat more seriously? It was such a small thing, the idea of upping security, but to Derek it felt like a lifeline, like Laura was starting to come back to his side. For a while now it had felt like he was on one team and the rest of his family another. Now it seemed like Laura was trying to meet him somewhere in the middle.

* * *

"What the hell is that?" Laura exclaimed as she walked into the stall two mornings later.

"Security system," Derek said without looking up from his lunch.

"That isn't precisely what I meant."

"I know, I don't care."

"Does it work?"

"Yep."

"Okay then."

Laura left the stall in Derek's charge and went back home.

Derek scratched the new ‘security system’ behind the ears. He had gone to the animal merchant at the end of the bazaar and found him. Naturally it was the most battered looking animal he had; it looked as though it had gone a couple of rounds with a small dragon, but it was still here and that meant it was tough, just like Derek. He had taken to it instantly.

He could tell just by looking that it had been there the longest, and passed over the most. It wasn’t in him to leave it there. So he bought it. The animal got a home and he got a watch-wolf.

Derek was glad to have the wolf, Lightning, around.  Until it happened he hadn’t realized how much he missed being looked at by someone who trusted him.  Lightning had total faith in his new master. He had no reason to second guess Derek’s command, or treat him like an egg that could easily break.  Why couldn’t Derek find a human who could do that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments welcome.


	2. Stiles Comes to Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles moves into the stall across from Derek's.
> 
>  
> 
>  

Stiles couldn't have gotten any hotter if he'd stood on the equator. The sun was tormenting him as he lugged crate after crate into his new stall, sweat dripping down his forehead. He didn't even have a hand to wipe it away so he kept blinking to clear his eyes.

He had no idea how he'd managed to land the stall across from the famous Hales but hoped it was a good thing. They were well established here and might not respond well to a rival egg seller directly across the way. The eggs they carried were completely different, but from what Allison had told him that might not matter. She had told Stiles about what had happened with her aunt Kate; he knew these were not people he wanted to cross.

Allison said that Kate and Derek had dated, it had ended badly, and the family had run her out of town. It seemed a pretty extreme reaction to just a bad break up so Stiles assumed something else must have happened. But he knew for a fact that she'd been run out. She was still running the way Allison told it.

Stiles didn't think he had the whole story, but hopefully he would be able to pick it up from the locals. If he was going to be set up across the road from them he wanted all the facts he could get about what had actually happened; he didn't think he'd do well living a life on the run.

Stiles went back outside to bring in another box.

"Why hello there," startled, Stiles looked up to see a gentleman in a suit far too nice for a dusty bazaar.

"Hello. I'll be open tomorrow.”

"Oh that's alright I’m not here to shop. Let me help you," he said as he bent down to pick up one of the boxes.

"Be careful with that," Stiles said quickly, reaching out to stop him. He had worked hard to get these eggs here safely and he wasn't about to let some stranger dump all his hard work on the ground.

"Don't worry," the man said, "I've got it all under control."

"No really, you don't need to help. I can do it myself." Stiles waited for the man to back away from the box before removing his hand from it.

"Suit yourself. Did you just get in this morning? I didn't see you here yesterday."

"Yep, just a few hours ago. I was lucky to get such a good spot, the Hale stall always does big business; maybe some of their customers will come check me out."

"You think it was luck?" the man asked with a disarming smile.

Stiles got the feeling something wasn't quite right with this guy. Where had he come from and why was he trying to help Stiles move in? Everyone else was walking by without paying him any attention.

"What else could it have been?" Stiles asked as he grabbed another crate.

"Oh, I think you have someone in your court and you don't even know it."

"Who would that be?" Stiles asked, facing the man head on.

The stranger smiled, "Don't worry about that now. I'm sure they'll show themselves eventually."

 He turned and walked away. Stiles wasn't quite sure what to think but whatever it was he was sure he could handle himself. His father was head of the royal guard in the kingdom where Stiles was born so Stiles had grown up learning how to defend himself.  He hadn't been here long and an hour didn’t seem enough to make any enemies.

Unless, Stiles thought, that guy worked for the Hales? Maybe they were trying to run him out before he even got settled. He really needed to figure out what their deal was.

Maybe the Hale family had found out that Stiles's best friend was married to an Argent. Perhaps they’d freed up this spot just so they could keep an eye on him. He figured he would find out soon enough but there had been no open hostilities and if it ever came to that, he wouldn't be the one to start them.

* * *

Derek wasn't expecting to see the stall across the road filled with customers. The last he heard the owner had hightailed it out of town and left it abandoned. Someone had sure moved in fast. He wondered about how it had happened so quickly. The Ashwicks had been putting more pressure on them lately; maybe they were putting a spy in place. He decided to go 'welcome' the new owner.

"Crap!" Stiles shouted as he turned around to see a large man standing in the doorway and staring at him. "What are you doing just standing there? If your goal was to scare the daylights out of me, you've achieved it. Well done, ten out of ten." He set down the box he had been moving, thankful that he hadn't dropped it.

"I wasn't trying to scare you," the mystery man said, "Do you have a reason to be scared of me?" He looked like he was smirking at Stiles, proud of having caught him off guard.

"No, I just wasn't expecting someone to stand there and stare at me. I know it's a great view, but still, creepy."

Derek huffed; this boy was too inept to be a spy. It must just be dumb luck on his part that he got this space. Still, Derek would keep an eye on him.

"I just wanted to come over and welcome you to the neighborhood."

"Oh thanks," that wasn't what Stiles was expecting. "Do you have a stall here too?"

"Across the road actually. I'm Derek Hale. My family-"

"Owns the most successful dragon egg business in the kingdom. I know who you are." Derek didn't like the way he said that. It wasn't surprising that he knew who the Hales were since they had worked hard to make their name recognizable. But he sounded suspicious of them and Derek didn't know why.

"Most people do."

"Wow, humble much," Stiles said as he turned to open the box on the table beside him.

"If it's true, why shouldn't I acknowledge it?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, whatever," Stiles said as he rummaged through the box.

Derek ignored that, "How long have you been in the business?"

"About half a year, I'm still pretty new at it, but I'm doing really well."

"Okay then. I'll be just across the road; I'll watch out for you." The way he said it Stiles figured he would be 'watching' more so than 'watching out for' Stiles. That was fine by him, he would just watch Derek right back. Not exactly a hardship on his part.

Derek walked back to his own stall trying to decide what he thought of the new boy. Stiles seemed harmless and he probably wasn't working with the Ashwicks but little was known about them or their connections. Getting into selling dragon eggs was not a cheap endeavor, perhaps Stiles had needed the start-up capital and the Ashwicks had been able to provide a helping hand. Or maybe he was smitten with Porter who was conning him into helping him in the name of true love. Or it just might be that -

"Snap out of it, Derek," Laura told him, breaking into his mental spiral. "I can tell that you're trying to work out every way that new boy might be in league against you, but you can't do that to yourself. You can't spend all your time trying to find out every little thing that's wrong with him, or imagine every scenario where he's working against you. Not everyone is just waiting for you to turn so they can stab you in the back."

"I know," Derek told her, "I'll try." He knew she meant well, but always telling him that was getting on his nerves. It wasn't that easy, he couldn't just 'snap out of it' and stop what he was thinking. He wished that he could, his life would be easier if he could just turn off his brain, but it felt impossible. Derek loved his family too much to just turn it off. Yes, he was suffering from the constant suspicion, but if it kept his family safe, if it meant he noticed the one time his paranoia was right and was able to protect them? Then it was worth it; worth every miserable second trapped in his head.

He dusted the eggs to give him something to do while Laura was here.

"You're just doing that to look busy. As soon as I leave you'll just sit at the cash box and brood," she gave Derek a knowing look.

Derek glared and went back to dusting. Damn, well that plan was out, he hated when she was right about that stuff.

"Seriously, Derek," she said as she put her arms around him. "He's fine, there's nothing wrong with him." She went quiet for a moment, resting her chin on his shoulder. "He's brand new here; maybe you can be friends." She kissed his shoulder and left.

She knew. That meant she knew how alone Derek felt. She knew how badly he wanted someone who would look at him without the past coloring what they saw. He didn't know whether to be touched or embarrassed so he decided to be both. It would be nice, he thought, to make a new friend. But Stiles already knew the Hales, maybe he knew about Derek, how far did this story reach?

Honestly, Derek had thought it only went to the ends of the bazaar. He had believed that if it all got to be too much he could just move away and be anonymous but now he wasn't sure. He knocked his head against the shelf in front of him. Try to forget it, try to forget it. Perhaps he could just knock his head until the memories fell out.

His stomach growled. Well, there was always time to get lost in thought after lunch.

* * *

Yep, it was official, Stiles was in love. This place was incredible! He stood outside his stall trying to take it all in. The noise was constant: vendors calling out their wares, shoppers haggling down the prices, birds singing from wooden cages. It made a pleasant backdrop to the hustle and bustle of people constantly moving through the street.

To his right delicious smells wafted down to him, practically wrapping themselves around his arm and dragging him to the food vendors. They were too tantalizing to resist and he followed his growling stomach to its goal.

His ultimate destination turned out to be right in front of a dazzling smile and the sound of sizzling meat. 

"Hey there good looking, wanna see what I got cooking?"

"Weak man, your game is _weak_ ," Stiles laughed as he looked up at the dazzling smile. "It's a good thing you're pretty."

"Damn straight," the smile said. "I'm Danny. What can I get for you?"

"I'm Stiles, and a plateful of whatever it is that smells so good. I followed that glorious scent all the way here so it had better be good."

"Trust me," Danny smirked, "I don't leave anyone disappointed." He winked at Stiles.

Hot damn, Stiles was definitely in the right town. 

He got the food from Danny, paid, and walked back to his stall. He'd only been here for a couple days and he already made a new friend. It was nice; back home he hadn't had that many friends. Really it had only been Scott. Most other people didn't seem to operate on the same wavelength as Stiles. Hopefully things would be different here and so far he was off to a good start.

When he got near his stall he decided to stop at the Hale's place and say hi to Derek. Might as well try to keep up his friend making streak. 

"Hey, Derek, how's it going?"

Derek looked up from the egg he was tending. He looked pissed. 

"What do you want?" he demanded. Was he always like this or was it just the Stiles special? 

"Just thought I'd say hi seeing how we're neighbors and all," Stiles did a small salute and winked, trying to get Derek to smile. Neither of those helped with Derek's impressive scowl. Actually, they seemed to make it a bit worse, whoops. 

"Hi," the _now get out of my shop_ was clearly implied. Well, at least he'd tried. 

"Okay bye then," Stiles burst out and walked briskly back to his stall. One friend out of two still gave him a 50 percent success rate which was miles better than he'd done back home. He'd consider today a win. That night he went to his new home with a spring in his step; this place was gonna be alright. 

* * *

The next day Derek went for lunch as usual but was brought up short by the sight of Stiles outside Danny's stall. An irrational flare of jealousy filled his chest. He knew that he had no claim to Danny, they weren't even friends really, but secretly Derek thought that Danny only smiled at him; he was obviously bland and disinterested in the rest of his customers.

Derek gritted his teeth and moved toward Stiles and Danny. He could at least make an effort to be nice to Stiles after he had come over to say hello to Derek yesterday. Then Danny would smile at Derek and Stiles would see and realize that Derek wasn't completely damaged and alone. 

"Hey there, Derek, have you met Stiles?"

"Yeah we've met. Derek came over while I was moving in," Stiles answered for him.

"Hello Danny, Stiles," he nodded at each of them. "Just the usual, thank you."

"Coming right up." Danny turned to the food leaving Stiles and Derek standing awkwardly together at the counter.

Say something. Say hello, no you already said that, just say something, Derek told himself. He wanted to make a good impression with Stiles but knew that so far he hadn't. He had been surprised when Stiles came over just to say hi. He wasn't use to it and didn't know what to do; so he'd defaulted to glaring. Now he could make up for that, too bad he still didn't know what the hell to say.

Luckily Stiles took that burden off him. 

"Have you heard any news about the dragon king?" Stiles asked. 

"Only that he won't be around much longer."

"Do you think we'll go to war?" 

"Probably. The king seems like he'd enjoy it seeing as how he thinks of people as pawns to be played. If he thought it would get him more land he'd have us thrown to the dragons for dinner."

"I don't want there to be war," Stiles said quietly. His father would be out there on the front lines if there ever was a battle, he didn't lead from behind. Stiles just couldn't handle that kind of worry. 

"Then go find the next dragon king."

"If only. Too bad there isn't some gigantic sign pointing the way, 'Dragon King over here come and get it', I'd be after it in a heartbeat," Stiles babbled. 

"Time is running out for the heir to be found. Once he dies our king will move in on the dragons while they're weak and headless."

Danny returned, food in hand. "Here you boys go. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. The dragons are full of the magic of the land, they'll find their heir. Probably at the last minute. Just to make it more dramatic."

"Sure they will. Thanks, Danny," Stiles said as he took his food. Derek retrieved his, thanked Danny, and decided to walk back with Stiles. It would be a good chance to try to make a better impression, besides, the only other option was doing the weird walking to the same place at the same time with out actually acknowledging it thing and Derek really hated that. 

"What difference would a war make to you?"

"My father's head of the palace guard. He would be right in the thick of things and I can't let anything happen to him."

Derek was silent. He felt a bit of a heel, he didn't really think that war would be that big a deal on a personal level, sure it might affect business but it wouldn't do much to disrupt Derek's life. Stiles it turns out would have a great deal to lose and nothing he could do about it. If his father was head guard there would be no way to pull him from the fighting and keep him safe out here. 

"Sorry to hear that," Derek tried for an understanding tone but thought he sounded insincere instead, damn. "Really," he added, just to be sure.

"That's okay, he loves his job and he's really good at it. Youngest head the palace guard has ever had."

"You didn't want to follow in his footsteps?"

"Not a bit. I would be a disaster as a guard. He's perfect for it, but I clearly didn't inherit the 'listens well to authority' gene. So I'm out here working as my own boss. But if there is war, I'll go back. I can't keep him out of the fight, but I can watch his back while he's in it."

They walked in silence for a moment, Derek thinking about what he would do if it were his father. No question, he would do the same as Stiles. 

"Well, it probably won't happen," Derek lied to try and cheer Stiles up. Then he tried taking his mind off it instead, "How did he take the news that you were moving out to become a merchant?"

"He was pretty cool about it. He knew I didn't want to be a guard so it wasn't a surprise. I think he's just happy I'm doing something I love, and that it's going well."

"It must be great to have that kind of support," Derek said wistfully.

"Don't you?" Stiles asked. Was Derek really that easy to read?

"I know they love me, but...lately we've had some "communication" issues. We don't really see eye to eye anymore. I miss that."

"If I ever lost my dad's support I'd be completely lost. Maybe you can work on your communication skill with me," Stiles suggested. "We can practice and then maybe you'll have an easier time getting your family to understand you."

Derek smiled and looked at Stiles, "That would be great, thanks." This day was looking up, perhaps he could make a friend of Stiles after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments welcome


	3. The Friendship Grows

Derek was happy with the progress he had made with Stiles and wanted their friendship to keep growing. He decided that buying Stiles lunch would be a nice way to show that he wanted to be friends since he wasn't always able to express himself verbally. Lunch would be fine right? That wasn't too weird, Stiles would probably like it, hopefully. 

Later, lunch in hand, he went to visit Stiles. 

"Here," he said and thrust the food at Stiles like a child thrusting flowers at his first crush. 

"What's this for?" Stiles asked, looking at the steaming dish. 

Why wasn't he taking the food? Should Derek not have brought it? How had he gone so long without having friends that he couldn't even do one little thing right?

"It's lunch, for you," Derek clarified. "You don't have to take it, it's fine." He retracted his arm and turned to walk out, embarrassment starting to fill him. 

Stiles grabbed his arm, "No, no, wait. That's really nice of you, thanks. I just didn't know it was for me." He took the plate from Derek and sniffed it, looking pleased. "Where's yours?"

"My what?"

"Your lunch?"

That gave Derek pause, he hadn't bought any other food.

"Did you seriously buy me lunch without getting any for yourself? Here we'll share." Stiles dug under the counter and found another plate. He split the food between the two and offered one to Derek. 

Derek couldn't believe his mistake. He had meant to make it seem casual, that he had just happened to get some extra food for Stiles while he was already at Danny's buying lunch. Now it was obvious that he had done it intentionally. Stiles must think him an idiot. 

"Thanks," Derek said, trying to downplay forgetting to buy his own food. 

"No, thank you. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me here."

"You got here three days ago."

"Still, it's the nicest. Thanks," Stiles paused, "People weren't always so nice back home." He stuffed his mouth full of food as soon as he said it, trying to stop himself from saying any more.

"Oh. People aren't always so nice to me here either."

"Well that's a crying shame. We can just be nice to each other then, to make up for all the other people being assholes."

"Okay," Derek said, and he smiled down at his plate, not wanting Stiles to see just how much that one small thing meant to him. Things were finally starting to look up. 

They finished the rest of the meal with Stiles doing most of the talking, and doing most of that with his mouth completely full. Derek just sat in silence and nodded in all the right places and tried to avoid getting hit by the spray. It worked for them. 

From then on it became a bit of a habit, every day they would have lunch together. As the days went on Stiles could see Derek lightening up. It wasn't a complete diversion from the original, but he smiled more and now it reached his eyes. It made Stiles happy that he could help someone else out that way. 

Derek for his part now felt less jealous of Danny and Stiles. He could see that Stiles genuinely wanted to spend time with him, and whatever smiles he exchanged with Danny did nothing to diminish the ones he shared with Derek; so it was alright they got along. It just meant Derek had two people who were happy to see him. Heck, in a few years, he might even have three. 

* * *

While things were improving on the friendship front, it wasn't that way for everything. The news brought to the bazaar suggested that the end of the dragon king was imminent and war would follow on death's heels. For some reason that news was actually worrying to Derek. It took him an entire day to figure out that he was worried for Stiles; he didn't want Stiles's father put into danger. 

Stiles was sitting in his stall, a ball of nerves. He had just received a letter from his father and wasn't sure he wanted to open it. He was biting his nails and shaking his leg so quickly it might as well have been a hummingbird's wing. It was probably just a letter to reassure Stiles that everything was fine, and to ignore all the rumors about war. Most likely he wanted Stiles to stop worrying because he was fine, safe and sound in the castle walls. Yeah, Stiles was sure of it. So why wasn't the letter open yet?

Finally he decided that he had to read it. Not looking wasn't going to change the contents and if he had to go back home the sooner he knew the better. 

_Stiles,  
I know that you have heard the rumors of war that have blown through the kingdom. While it is a possibility, I don't want you to worry. The king is making plans now in the event that no heir comes forth. His advisers are turning his mind from war to treaty. A deal should be made before the old dragon king dies. Stay where you are Stiles, everything here is fine. _

_Dad_

For such a short letter it was exceedingly distressing. Stiles could see what his father was really saying, _don't come here, it isn't safe here, the king will have war_. He resisted the urge to crumple the letter by laying it out and smoothing it repeatedly. If his father was going to battle Stiles was too. But if he showed up now, the king would know that Stiles's father had written to him and would be angry. He was a suspicious, insecure ruler and he wouldn't be happy that his head guard had written to someone about palace affairs; no matter how vaguely. 

Stiles decided to pack a bag and have it ready, but he would stay here until war was confirmed. By then the king would have something to distract him from Stiles's father. There was a gatekeeper in the bazaar who could help him get home using magic. He would be able to be home as soon as the trouble began. Even knowing that he could reach his dad quickly didn't help Stiles worry less. He wanted to be with his father now, making sure he was safe. 

He knew it was ridiculous since his father was the head of the palace guard and Stiles was a merchant but he felt that if he were just watching his father no harm could come to him; as though his mere presence would keep danger at bay. Don't go there, it would say, Stiles is watching. His father had survived for decades before he came along, yet Stiles couldn't shake the thought that he was his father's best protection. He laid his head on the counter, desperate to be home but unable to go. 

"Are you alright?" Derek asked, coming to get him for lunch. 

He saw the letter under Stiles's head. "Is that from you father?" He didn't know who else would send Stiles distressing mail. "Has anything happened?" 

Derek approached cautiously. He didn't want to startle Stiles.

"Nothing's happened yet, but it will soon," Stiles said. "My father says not to worry, everything's fine, but I know what he really means. The king is probably shouting at his advisers now and having the troops readied for battle."

"Maybe not. There's been talk of the heir being out there. If he or she is found the crisis will be averted, the old treaty will carry on and your father will be fine." Derek tried to sound as convincing as possible. He wanted to reach out and rub Stiles's shoulder to reassure him, but didn't know if his touch would be welcome. He kept his hands to himself. 

Stiles was still face down on the counter-top, "I want to go home. I want to see him, know that he's still safe," he paused and finally looked up. His eyes begged Derek for good news, "Did you really hear that the heir would be found?" he was ready to cling to the thinnest thread of hope, he was just waiting for Derek to give it to him.

"Yes," Derek said firmly, "I did. The dragons are magic. They have been around for thousands of years and have never not had a king. Why would they suddenly not be able to find an heir? The heir will appear and we will all feel silly for having worried." He left out the part where never before had there been such poaching of eggs from the dragons, so of course they were having trouble finding their heir. 

Dragon eggs were dormant when not in the nest. The eggs that the Hales and all the others sold were dormant eggs that would one day be returned to their families so they could finally grow and hatch. It was a way of controlling the southern dragon population so they couldn't overrun the humans. The eggs were viewed by humans as status symbols and highly coveted even though buying was more like renting since eventually they would be returned home. But it would be decades after the sale, plenty of time for the owners to show them off. 

It was a punishable offense to destroy or harm an egg. The guilty party was shown no mercy, instead they were captured and turned over to the dragons. Merchants and clients were therefore exceedingly careful. It was part of why the Hale stall hadn't been guarded in the past. No one would dare to mess with the merchandise so security had been superfluous. Porter and his family had changed that. 

Stiles still looked worried, but he was better than he had been when Derek had entered. "Okay, that makes sense," he told Derek. "Everything should be fine."

"It will be, Stiles, your father will be alright." Derek handed Stiles his lunch and clapped him on the shoulder, that seemed like an appropriate thing to do. 

"Thanks, it really helps to have you say that. This looks fantastic by the way, thanks for bringing it." 

"No problem, you're buying tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He began eating and Derek turned the conversation to lighter topics and Stiles started to relax. 

Before Derek left, Stiles asked, "Why do you have a wolf in your stall?"

"That's Lightning. He's guarding the stall, I got him a short while before you showed up actually."

Stiles looked confused, "Why do you need a guard dog-"

"Wolf."

"What?"

"Lightning is a wolf, not a dog. Get it straight."

"Okay, why do you need a guard wolf? Stalls like ours don't see much trouble."

"Normally everything's fine, but lately we've been having some problems with this one family. They want us out and they aren't above sabotage to get us to leave. Lightning keeps them from doing anything while I'm not there."

"I had no idea. How long has this been going on? Why didn't you tell me,Derek, I could be helping you with them."

Derek was a bit stunned. Stiles was offering to help? He wasn't telling Derek there was nothing to worry about, it wasn't actually that big a deal? Incredible, just incredible. 

"I didn't want to bother you with it," Derek said gruffly. He picked imaginary dirt, no wait that actually was dirt, damn he just washed this, off his shirt to give himself something to look at besides Stiles. 

"Derek, you aren't bothering me with it. We're friends, we're supposed to talk about the shit that's happening with us so we can help each other out. So now, talk. What's this jerk family been doing to you?"

Derek walked back to the counter, "Mostly they're just harassing us but from what I've heard that's just the beginning. They've already driven three families away. I don't want that to happen here. I won't let that happen here."

"That's awful, Derek. What are you doing to stop them? I'll help. I'm not a palace guard but I've been around them most of my life. I can definitely help you."

Derek could hardly believe what Stiles was offering. True, they had been getting along better and better but they were still new to this friendship, he hadn't thought Stiles would care so much so soon. 

"Thank you, I appreciate it. If there's anything you can do I'll let you know. But for now I've got to get back to the stall, Lightning will be expecting his lunch." 

Derek walked back and fed Lightning, scratching the wolf behind the ears. For such a ferocious predator he really loved getting scratched. 

* * *

A week passed and nothing was seen of Porter. The rest of the Hales were relieved but Derek was only worried further. He assumed that the Ashwicks must be planning something terrible to be gone so long. While unsettling, Porter's visits to the stall were at least predictable. With them gone, Derek felt adrift, uncertain of where the attack would come from. 

"Seriously Derek, you have got to let this go," Laura told him. They were sitting opposite each other eating breakfast at home. Laura was leaving that morning to go to their father. She wasn't sure how long it would be till she got back. 

Derek wished Stiles were here instead. He wouldn't say don't worry, he would be plotting how to get rid of the menace. 

"Yes Laura, you've said that already. You've said it already _this morning_ in fact," Derek was having a hard time hiding his irritation. He was glaring at his food to avoid giving his sister the stink eye. 

"I know you don't like hearing it-"

"Then maybe you should stop saying it."

"Derek, look at me. I'm only trying to do what's best for you. The Ashwicks haven't been seen in a week, that's a good thing. They're probably halfway to their new town by now so let's drop the issue alright?"

Derek didn't say anything. Why was it so easy for the others to let this go? Didn't they remember Kate, didn't they realize that it wouldn't be over until they drove the Ashwicks out themselves, until they saw their retreating backs themselves? Derek banged his head on the table top. 

"That won't solve anything, Derek." Laura finished eating and put her bowl in the sink. She walked to the bag she had left by the staircase and picked it up. It was time for her to journey to meet their father. The deteriorating dragon situation had the egg collectors on edge and she needed to be there to support their dad. Hopefully they would both be home before things got worse. 

"Okay, Derek, I'm leaving now." She walked, bag in hand, to the door expecting Derek to just ignore her but he surprised her. 

"Bye, Laura," Derek said as he walked over to her. As upset as he was at her he couldn't let her leave without saying goodbye. He knew that she was walking into a dangerous situation and couldn't let her leave with bad blood between them. No matter how upset he got with her, no matter how many times he screamed at her in his head, he loved her dearly and would do anything to protect her. This was his sister, he hugged her tighter trying to let her know how much he cared. 

Through the embrace they both could feel what the other was really saying, _I love you, I want what's best for you, be safe_. 

"Bye, Derek."

"Bye, Laura."

Laura left. She was meeting their mother at the stable. Derek wasn't sure how long it would be before they were eating together again. He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. Really, he understood that she loved him and was worried for him, but constantly telling him to let it go was beginning to drive him nuts. As worried as he was for her safety, it was a bit nice having a breather. 

Their father had sent a letter asking for Laura to join him. The other collectors were beginning to get agitated, as were the dragons they were near. He needed the back up that only Laura could provide, she had the training of a fighter that Derek lacked. It would take two days for her to reach her destination and once there she would send word to the family on the situation. If war was likely she would bring their father home. 

* * *

"I'm worried, Derek, like seriously worried. I don't know how much longer I can deal with this. I have a bag packed and ready to go, but I can't go now. I can't just go home now and let the king know that I know that he wants war. I can't let him know that my father's been talking about him to me or heads will roll. Heads will roll and probably heads that I like, heads that I care about, and that just-"

"Stiles-"

"-can't happen. No seriously it can't-"

"Stiles!"

"Gah!" Stiles jumped a foot of the ground clutching his heart. "Derek, crap, you scared me." 

"Were you talking to me?"

"Yes."

"Before I even got here?"

"Well I was going to wait for you to show up, but then you were taking too long so I decided to just start the conversation and figured you would jump in eventually. Which you did. So it worked out fine." 

Stiles finally paused in his frantic pacing. He had been walking in circles around his stall, gesticulating wildly, when Derek had walked in. When he looked down Derek could even see the beginning of the rut that Stiles was walking into the floor. He walked over and put his hand on Stiles's shoulder. Partly to show solidarity, but mostly to hold him in place so he was easier to talk to. 

"Just tell me, slowly, what's wrong."

"I haven't heard anything new from my dad, but the more days pass, the closer we get to war and the more worried I become. The minute war breaks out I'm going to the gatekeeper, expense be damned, and getting my ass home. It's just hard to keep from doing it right now. I need to be with him, Derek," he pleaded, needing Derek to understand. 

"I get it, Stiles, really. You'll feel that he's safer when you can see him. If you want we could go there now and you could just open a small gate and talk to him. Do you want to? I've got some money saved so you don't have to worry about paying."

He was nearly knocked over with the force of Stile's hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Derek, but I can't."

"Why not? Seriously, the money is not an issue."

"No, it's not that, though the fact that you're willing to do that for me in incredible. But the king is not the most levelheaded person and if he found out, my dad would be in serious trouble."

"Okay," Derek nodded, "If you change your mind just let me know."

"In a heartbeat. Count on it."

Derek and Stiles broke apart and Stiles went back to pacing, but now more sedately. 

"Enough of my issues, how are you? Have the Ashwicks bothered you anymore?"

"Nothing yet. Laura left this morning. She's going out to our dad, he's our egg collector and the dragons are beginning to get restless. It's starting to get worrying because if the treaty breaks we're going to be the first ones they come for."

Stiles looked confused, "Do the dragons have a vendetta against the Hale family?"

"No, not come after just us, they're going to come after all the egg sellers. We have their children, I'm pretty sure they're going to want them back."

"And they probably won't be too please about us having them," Stiles said, thinking for the first time about how the war might affect him outside of his father's fate. "If there's war, they're going to come after us. Dragons are going to come after us! Derek, do you understand, dragons are going to come after _us_." He grabbed Derek by the shoulders and shook him for emphasis. "What are we going to do?"

"Prepare for battle."

Stiles gestured down at himself, "Do I look like I'm going to do well in a battle against dragons to you? Seriously, Mr. Muscles, you are one thing, but I am something completely different. I was not built for battle with dragons. What, am I gonna throw rocks and hope the fire-breathing, flying hunks of armor run away in terror? Because that does seem the most likely scenario."

"Just kidding. I was thinking of deploying more of a run and hide tactic myself. You could come with me," Derek smiled as he told Stiles. 

"Run and hide, yeah, I could get on board with that. Good plan, let's definitely, definitely, do that. When should we do that?"

"Not for a while yet. The king still lives and treaty still stands. For now we just need to go on as normal and wait for news of the heir."

Stiles rolled his eyes, "Carry on as normal? I think you are severely underestimating my ability to blow things wildly out of proportion." Even as he said that Derek could see him start to calm down. That was good, he didn't like to see Stiles so worried.

"Let's go get lunch and see if there's been any news of the heir. I'm sure it's coming any day now," Derek said. 

"Yeah," Stiles agreed, "let's go." 

They ate at Danny's as usual. During their meal they asked around but no one had heard anything new, well not anything good anyway. Whenever one of the others started spinning tales of fire and brimstone Derek hurriedly changed the subject, he didn't want Stiles to worry all over again. Stiles looked at him gratefully every time he did. 

Derek seemed so certain so maybe there was hope after all, Stiles thought. Maybe the heir would be found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to update as quickly as I can but I can't promise regular updates. I put each chapter us as soon as it's done, and I do promise that I will see this through to the end. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you all like it. 
> 
> Comments welcome


	4. The King is Found

It took Stiles a minute to figure out what was wrong; the noise in the bazaar was dissipating. Normally it was constant, but now he could hear everyone fall silent one after another and it terrified him. In less than a minute the only sound left was Lightning growling outside his master's stall.

Stiles ran outside and looked around, expecting to find that war had started without his knowledge, but no one was moving. There was no fighting or fleeing, everyone was just looking up at the sky. Stiles looked up just as a great shadow began to cover the bazaar. It started at the food vendors and was moving toward him, encompassing everything in its darkness.

Stiles gripped one of the door posts for support as the large dragon flew closer. It was looking for the eggs, he just knew it. The large, fire-red scales glinted in the sunlight as the beast's eye looked directly at Stiles. He could tell it knew he had them, it looked like it wanted to stop and take them away but instead flew on. The warning was clear, _we know they are here, we will be back for them_. Stiles shuddered; he didn't want to be there when it happened. 

No one moved as the shadow touched them. It wasn't until the dragon was fully out of sight that life slowly started up again. The people in the streets looked like windup toys slowing coming to life. The shouting was back but now it had a frantic edge to it, vendors calling out their wares when what they were really calling for was help. 

Nothing like this had happened before, the treaty forbade it. Dragons kept to their territory and humans to theirs, the only crossover was with egg collectors. Such blatant disregard for the rules was frightening and unprecedented. Next time, would he come breathing fire?

Stiles entered his stall and immediately knew something had changed. He stood in the doorway looking for the difference; kind of hoping for a magical light show to point it out but after a minute of that not happening, he decided to just walk around the stall and look. 

The tiny teal eggs closest to the door, the larger golden eggs that lined the left wall, the varied hues of green that spanned the right wall all looked the same. Stiles could tell that nothing had been taken or moved, instead, it felt like something had been added.

And then he saw it, a tiny opalescent egg in the farthest corner of the stall, sitting innocuously on the bottom shelf. He walked over to in, knelt down and took the egg in his hands. He brought it up for inspection and saw thin black lines sprouting from its pointed end. They were growing right before his eyes, each line branching out smaller and smaller until they were too fine to observe.

Stiles was fascinated by the life in his hands, because this egg was _alive_ , in a way none of the others were. The eggs here were dormant but something had awoken this one. Was it going to hatch right here? What on earth was Stiles going to do with a newborn dragon in his stall, he didn't have any blankets, boiling water, or, or anything. Without realizing it he was instinctively hunched over the changing egg, protecting it from predators. He needed to show this to Derek, he had more experience with eggs, he would know what to do.

* * *

Derek lay in bed avoiding getting up for the day. He was going to be late getting to the stall, but no one was scheduled to come this morning so he wouldn't be missed. Lying with his eyes closed he lost himself in his mind. He knew without doubt that his family loved him and he loved them but everyday he felt more and more like he needed to get away. Just for a little while he needed time away from them to figure out what was going on in his life. 

Every time someone told him to 'let it go' or 'don't worry about it' he felt an anger so strong that he was surprised he was still standing at the end of it. And after the anger came the guilt; guilt that he wasn't able to relax the way others did, guilt that he was angry at his family.

Some days he felt like he was about to shatter from the force he held inside himself. He didn't know how much longer until he disintegrated completely.

As he lay still, he felt as though there was a second skin of stone holding him together. It was his wall, protecting him, if it broke there would be nothing left of him. He had started to let it crumble the more he got to know Stiles, was that a mistake? He had trusted Kate, gotten to know her, thought that she was growing to love him. He'd been wrong. 

Derek turned over on his side. But Stiles was good, he was kind, and he wasn't going to be another Kate. Derek turned over again. How could he know that for sure? Trouble was coming to the kingdom and he would need to know for certain who was on his side. Stiles was, right? He had to be. Derek covered his face in his hands and avoided his day for a while longer. 

* * *

The bazaar had a strange energy about it as Derek walked to his stall. On either side of him, the stalls were buzzing with a frenetic energy. He walked faster, a feeling of foreboding creeping over him. When he got back to the stall Lightning was pacing in front of it. Usually he stayed inside until Derek arrived. 

Derek found his stall the same as he had left it. He lead Lightning back inside and told him to stay, then went to visit Stiles.

"Stiles," Derek called. "Stiles, are you here?"

"Um, yeah. Just hang on a second," Stiles called from his back room. 

"Is everything alright? Why was Lightning outside?"

Stiles walked out looking worried. "Derek, come here," he whispered. Why was Stiles whispering, there was no one to overhear them. 

Derek walked back to Stiles to find out what was going on. Stiles held open the back curtain and waved him through. He was looking around as though waiting for a spy to drop down from the ceiling and join them. 

"Stiles," Derek whispered, "why are we whispering?" 

"Promise not to freak out." That usually didn't bode well for Derek. He closed his eyes and steeled himself against whatever storm Stiles was about to unleash on his life. 

"Derek, open your eyes."

He obeyed and gasped. The lines on the egg had stopped spreading and were now pulsing slowly, black veins that stood out sharply against their opalescent background.

Derek stared down at the tiny life in front of him. As soon as he saw it he knew, this was the heir. Stiles had found it. This minute being was going to grow to rule the immense race of dragons and Derek could barely believe it. How was one so small going to fill such a large destiny? Would it be able to? He suddenly felt like an over-protective parent, worried for his child's future. 

Derek reached out to trace a finger along the smooth shell. It's alright, he told it, I will see you safe. Even if this weren't the heir that would keep peace in the kingdom, Derek wouldn't have hesitated to journey out to bring it home. Any egg that wasn't dormant should be with its parents. 

Finally, Derek came back to the present moment and realized Stiles was still waiting for answers.

"Stiles," Derek breathed, "Do you know what this is?"

"No, I thought that maybe it was going to hatch, but it's been about an hour and nothing's happened."

"Put the egg down."

"Why?"

"Just do it." 

Stiles set the egg down and looked at Derek to find out what was going on.

"Okay, it's down. What is it?"

Derek pulled Stiles to the very back of the room. He placed his hands on Stiles's shoulders and looked him in the eye. 

"It's the heir. You've found the next dragon king." He quickly put his hand over Stiles mouth to muffle the shocked noises the other man was emitting. In true Stiles fashion large gesticulations soon followed the unintelligible noises. 

"Stiles, no one can know you have this. We have to take it to its home intact and we won't be able to do that if everyone knows it's been found. Have you told anyone about it?" He slowly uncovered Stiles mouth, waiting to see if he would be quiet. 

Stiles took a couple of deep breaths before answering. "No. Just you so far. I brought it back here as soon as the black lines appeared. I think it was triggered by the dragon flying over this morning."

"What?" Derek asked quickly. It was a struggle to keep his voice down.

"You missed that?"

"Missed what?" Derek hissed.

"The great freaking huge dragon that flew over the bazaar this morning. Its shadow covered the entire place! How could you have missed it?"

"I was busy," Derek blustered, "Did anything happen, are you alright?" He realized that his hands were running up and down Stiles, unconsciously checking him for injuries. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," Stiles said, touched that Derek cared so much. "Nothing happened other than the egg, I don't know...'waking up'? The dragon just flew over and left, but I could have sworn that it was looking right at me as it went past. How did it know the eggs are here?"

"The southern dragons must know the route the eggs take to reach the merchants. They can't take them back yet because of the treaty. But they know where to go once it breaks."

"Derek, we need to get out of here and get the egg home now."

"I know, Stiles, I know. But do we even know where the egg came from?"

"The Great Mountains of the North-"

"We don't take eggs from the dragons of the north, what were you thinking accepting it?"

They were still whispering against the back wall even though the noise of the bazaar would have covered up their conversation. 

"I didn't have much choice. I found it in one of my boxes with a note attached saying where it was from. What was I supposed to do, just leave it on the side of the road to get crushed or eaten?"

"No, of course not, sorry, I was just worried."

"I get it, it's fine. I wouldn't have been able to buy a northern egg anyway. No one ever goes near the dragons of the north."

"Okay, the mountains are a five day journey, we should leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Why not now? And why don't we take a gate? I mean I know it's expensive but it would get us there right away."

"The gatekeepers all work for the king, if we bring this egg near them they'll know it and we'll be finished before we start. King Harris would take the egg from you the moment he found you. We have to journey on horseback if we want to keep the egg safe."

"Right, right. Horses, I can deal with horses." Stiles ran a hand through his hair and began pacing around the back room. "Okay, we need food, and food for the horses, and water, and something to carry the egg in."

"Breathe, Stiles, I will take care of all the arrangements. Just be ready to go tomorrow morning."

"Shouldn't we leave now? The longer we wait the more likely it is someone will find out." This was the key to keeping his father safe and Stiles didn't want to wait another moment to get it home where it should be. He would guard this egg with everything he had but he would rather do it away from the people who would turn them in. 

"If we go off half-cocked we will fail. We have to prepare properly for this journey. It's important that we make it to the mountains and to do that we will need the proper provisions. Like I said, I will get them ready but it's going to take the rest of the day to do it right." 

Stiles was nodding, he was coming around to Derek's way of thinking. 

"Right, it's a good idea to get a full night's rest," Stiles said. 

Derek hugged Stiles to reassure him. He knew his friend was worried and ready to run to the mountains on foot but that wasn't what was best for them. "Stiles, we are going to take this egg to the mountains and we are going to start tomorrow morning. No one expects it to be here, they won't be looking for it, one more day will not screw this up. Okay?"

"Okay," Stiles agreed. He understood that they had to wait, but it was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	5. A Palace Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to see what's going on at the palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short but I wanted to put something up for you guys. Sorry for any mistakes I will edit it later.

"Calm down, Scott."

"He is my best friend I am not going to _calm down_ ," Scott hissed at Allison. "He moved across from the _Hales_ , the Hales, Allison. Look what they did to your aunt, how do you know they won't do the same to Stiles.

Scott and Allison were walking quickly down one of the palace's corridors, Allison trying to quiet Scott until they were someplace private but he wouldn't be silenced.

"We haven't heard anything from him since he moved in, he probably needs our help but can't get word to us."

"He's fine."

"He needs us."

Finally they reached their chamber, Allison threw the doors open and dragged Scott inside. She put a finger to his lips.

"Scott, just listen to me." He tried to speak but she covered his mouth with her whole hand. "There's something I need to tell you and I want you to be quiet until I'm finished. Will you do that?"

Scott nodded and Allison took her hand away. 

"Okay," she stepped back and smoothed her skirt down, trying to prolong the moment. "Okay, I might not have been completely honest about the Hales and Kate."

Scott looked confused, unable to believe that his sweet Allison had ever been anything other than utterly truthful.

"I told you that she and Derek dated, which they did. And I told you the Hales chased her out of the city, which they did. But I never told you why."

"I thought-"

"Quiet until I finish, Scott. Thank you. Well," she paused and the began to speak very quickly, "As it turns out she was a little bit of a violent nutcase and she tried to smash all the eggs in the Hale stall but they were able to stop her before she harmed any of them."

She bit her lip and looked through her eyelashes at Scott, hoping he wouldn't be too mad. 

"At least now you don't have to worry about Stiles," she tried to placate him.

"I have to worry about you. Why would you lie to me? I've been so worried about Stiles, how come you didn't tell me the truth in the first place?"

"I'm sorry, Scott, I just didn't want you to think badly of me because of my aunt. I know what she did, tried to do, was wrong and I didn't want that affecting our relationship."

"So you decided lying was the best idea? What else are you being untruthful about?"

Allison looked hurt, she went to Scott and put her arms on his chest, "There's nothing else, Scott. It was just this."

Scott wanted to question her further, but he didn't, he believed her right away even though he didn't want to. As upset as he was about this he couldn't hold on to any real anger toward Allison. He kissed her forehead.

"Okay, I believe you. But in future, don't lie to me."

"I won't."

"So Stiles isn't in danger from the Hales?"

"No."

"Good. Let's go find Guard Stilinski and tell him he doesn't have to worry about Stiles."

Scott worked in the stables, taking care of the animals. His mother ran the infirmary so he and Stiles had grown up together. He didn't really understand what everyone was so upset about but knew it had something to do with dragons. For someone who worked in the palace he was a bit clueless.

They found Stiles's father pacing in the guardroom. He looked extremely agitated, his sword knocking against his leg as he paced when normally it was perfectly positioned. 

"Guard Stilinski," Allison started. 

"We wanted to talk to you about Stiles," Scott said. "You don't have to worry anymore, he's fine, the Hales won't hurt him."

Guard Stilinski stopped pacing to look at Scott, "Thank you for bringing me this news but there are other things troubling me, Scott. The Hales are the least of my worries."

Scott looked confused. He knew people had been more in edge lately but he had never questioned it. He sort of thought that they were worried for Stiles too, what else could there be? 

Guard Stilinski read Scott's expression correctly and explained, "The Dragon King is going to pass on soon, if no heir is found the treaty between our kingdom and the dragons of the north will fail and we will go to war. King Harris will attack the dragons of the north and attempt to bring them under his control. They will be weakened without their king and Harris thinks that means he can subdue them."

"But we are already at peace with the dragons of the north. They don't bother us, why fight them now?"

"King Harris doesn't want peace he wants control. He isn't satisfied only controlling the southern dragons. He wants to rule them all."

"But," Allison cut in, "how could we possibly win against the dragons of the north even if they are weakened from losing their king?"

"I don't know if we can but the king doesn't care. He only thinks of himself and his desire to control all the dragons."

"What-" Scott started to ask but Guard Stilinski silenced him, there were footsteps coming. They couldn't be overheard talking about the king. Allison caught on and quickly dragged Scott behind her and through a secret passageway out of the guardroom. They could talk later, for now they needed to get out of here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments welcome


	6. Leaving on an Adventure

Derek's mother found him in the stables getting the horses ready.

"And where are you off to in such a hurry?"

Derek startled, he hadn't seen her come in. 

"Well...Stiles and I are going to be gone for a while," he paused unsure how to tell his mother about his plans; she might no approve of her son riding across a desert to the dragons of the north. Now that he thought about it, it did seem the type of thing mothers frowned upon.

"I knew things were going well between the two of you, but I hadn't realized they were going that well." She looked knowingly at him and he realized what she was getting at.

"Oh no, it's not like that-"

"Sweetheart, it's fine. Your father and I don't mind," she came over, wrapped him in her arms, and whispered in his ear, "We just want you to be happy."

It made Derek feel like crying. Even though she'd gotten the wrong idea, hearing the sincerity in his mother's voice when she told him all she wanted was for him to be happy was almost too much for him. For the past few months, as his paranoia grew, he felt like his connection with his family had lessened. It had been so long since he had allowed himself to be hugged by his mother. He had needed his family more than ever but hadn't know how to let them in. He'd built a protective wall of stone but hadn't left them an entrance. Now it felt like he was working his way back to them.

Finally, he felt he could speak without bursting into tears.

"Thank you mother, but it isn't like that. Actually," he lead her to a bench and sat down with her, "Stiles found the heir to the dragon king. We are journeying to the mountains of the north to return the egg." He stopped and looked at her, hoping she wouldn't try and stop him.

She was silent a moment longer. He was grateful that she wasn't the type to cry out when shocked, he didn't want anyone overhearing them. 

"Well my love, if the heir has been found it must be returned to the dragons, but how did you come to possess the egg of a dragon of the north."

"Stiles was given the egg. It became active after the flyover this morning. We plan to leave tomorrow."

She rubbed his hand. "I'll help you get ready. We will tell the others that you journey to aid your father and that Stiles is returning home to the palace."

"How do you know he lives there?"

"Son," his mother smiled mischievously, "you talk of him often."

Derek blushed and looked at his knees. His mother lifted his head and looked at him. 

"It's okay to feel this way again. I have watched him and he seems like a fine young man. You have chosen well." She kissed his forehead, the way she would when he was a child. It still comforted him as it always had before.

"Thank you, mother, I'm trying."

She left him to finish getting the horses ready while she packed food for the journey. 

Derek thought of Stiles and smiled. He was glad of the upcoming trip and the time he would be able to spend with Stiles. Even though he could tell that Stiles was kind and wasn't like Kate, evil under a pretty smile, he still sometimes had doubts, and the doubts brought shame. Why couldn't he stop worrying? Why couldn't he just trust Stiles? I want to, I do. But sometimes it's hard. Is that okay? He didn't know.

* * *

Stiles was pacing. Was it tomorrow yet? It felt like he had waited long enough, going by his feelings it was sometime next week. He went outside to check the public sundial; only five hours had passed. He walked back in and knocked his head against his counter top. How could it possibly be taking this long? Didn't Derek understand that they had the future of the kingdom hidden in Stiles's stall and that perhaps that was just the tiniest bit stressful for Stiles. He knocked his head a few more times for good measure. 

"I'm not sure that's going to help," a voice from the doorway said. 

Stiles jumped in the air. Why did people have to come talk to him today, couldn't they all wait till he had left to come over. He turned and realized he recognized the new person. It was the man in the suit who had tried to help him move in. It was the first time he'd seen him since that day. 

"How can I help you?" Stiles did his best to keep his voice level but wasn't sure he had completely avoided the _clearly hiding something, don't mind me_ tone. Too bad.

"Just checking in on my favorite merchant, well second favorite anyway. I've heard that you'll be away for a while, I hope everything's alright," he trailed off, waiting for Stiles to fill him in. 

"Yeah, I'm going back to the palace, where my father's head guard," he added. "I'm leaving tomorrow so if you want to make a purchase you'll have to do it now."

"Yes, I was interested in purchasing a lovely little egg you had on your bottom shelf over there," he sauntered into the stall and casually pointed at the place where the opalescent egg had been.

"It's gone," Stiles blurted. "What I mean is that it's been sold, already, it's long gone, gone far far away. Yep," he finished, trying to hide that he was hiding something. Why wasn't he a better liar? Seriously, he and Scott had spent their childhoods sneaking around the palace breaking rules, being able to believably tell a lie would have been a valuable skill. Not one that he, or Scott, possessed unfortunately. 

"So it's definitely not here?" the man turned sharp eyes on Stiles. 

Stiles gazed back as innocently as he could. 

"Yep, not here, one hundred percent gone. Could I interest you in another egg?" he asked trying to turn the man's attention to something else. 

"No, I must have that egg. In particular. It's _very_ important to me."

"Well, that's just too bad, seeing how it's gone. Better luck next time." Please get out, Stiles begged, leave now come on. This man was doing nothing to lower his stress level. 

The man gave a final glance around the shop, his eyes lingering on the curtain blocking the back room. 

"That egg is very valuable. The new owner had better take _extremely_ good care of it," he glared menacingly at Stiles and exited the stall. Stiles slid to the floor. Who was that guy? He must know about the egg. Stiles needed Derek to come back quickly so he could tell him about that creep. Maybe they should leave tonight instead. 

* * *

Frozen where he stood, Derek tried to think clearly. He was standing in the middle of the bazaar watching Porter walk calmly out of Stiles's stall. He's just harassing Stiles too, they aren't working together. They're not, it wouldn't even make sense if they were. Stiles and I are leaving together with the heir, if he was working with Porter why would he leave with me? They would leave together. But they haven't, so it's fine.

Derek was trying so hard to fight the demons in his mind, turning him against Stiles. He wasn't going into the stall until he had a handle on himself. Even if Stiles were working against him he would need to have a level head when he talked to him.

__

No.

Stiles is fine. 

He's not Kate. He's not.

He's your friend. 

Go in. It will be fine. He probably doesn't even know what Porter looks like. 

Finally Derek felt like he had things under control and he walked the rest of the way to Stiles's stall.

"Hello?" there wasn't anyone in here. Derek's heart clenched. Did Stiles leave without him? No. He was probably getting something in the back. 

"Derek, oh thank goodness." Stiles lept out from behind the counter.

"Were you sitting on the floor?"

"Yes. Some creep came in here. Derek, he was asking about the egg. We need to leave tonight. What if he comes back? I think he knows about the heir," Stiles said sounding completely stressed out. He was pulling his hair up as he talked. Derek wanted to run his fingers through it. He scolded himself, this is not the time to think about that.

"I saw him leave. That was Porter."

"The jerk who's been harassing you?"

"That's the one."

"I wish I'd known, I would have run him out of here."

Derek quirked an eyebrow.

"Okay, probably not, but I would have glared really hard until he left."

"Good enough for me," Derek said. He was relieved that everything had been as innocent as he'd hoped.

"But can we leave tonight? I don't want him coming back and trying to find the egg. He seemed really intense about it."

Derek though it over.

"Okay. My mother's helping me get things ready for the journey and everything should be done my tonight. We could ride out a few hours and then stop for the night. At least that way we'd be out of the city."

"Good. Thanks, Derek."

"Of course. I want to see that egg safe as much as you do."

Stiles rubbed a hand over his face. 

"Yeah I know, I didn't mean to imply anything, just that guy's got me on edge."

"Welcome to my world."

"I don't like it, let's go find a new one and trade."

Derek smiled, "See you tonight."

"Wait, what are we telling people about why we're leaving?" Stiles asked. 

"We're saying that I'm joining Laura and my father, and you're going back to the palace to be with your father."

Stiles nodded, "Okay, sounds good."

"Bye, Stiles."

"See you tonight, Derek."

Stiles prepared to go home. He couldn't stay in the stall any longer, he was too riled up to talk to customers and he wanted to get the egg as far away from Porter as possible.

Stiles's back-room was a mess. Crates were stacked haphazardly around the small, dark room, the only table was covered in straw, and his stool was lying on its side. Stiles picked it up, sat down and began to fill a satchel with straw. He was making a safe carrying pouch for the egg and it made more sense to put it in a bag rather than haul around some huge crate just for one tiny egg. Less conspicuous too.

Once the bag was packed with straw and the egg nestled safely inside, Stiles went home. He walked as quickly as he could without actually running. He knew it made him look shifty but he couldn't help constantly looking over his shoulder as he traveled home. Luckily no one seemed to be following him.

Stiles hadn't brought many belongings with him when he moved here. He searched through his few possessions and packed a blanket, a change of clothes, and a small jar of ointment. Derek had said the he would bring the food so Stiles filled a canteen with water and figured he was done. 

He laid down on his mat and tried to calm down. He couldn't believe that he had found the egg. The heir to the dragon king had been sitting in his shop this whole time, how could that be? Would he have ever known it if the dragon hadn't flown over, or would the king have died and war broken out while the new king lay dormant? 

He rolled over trying to clear those thought from his mind. What mattered was that the egg had been found before the king passed and they would bring it home in time. They had to be in time.

* * *

That night Derek and Stiles met up at the stables. The horses were packed and ready, nothing was stopping them from leaving. Derek hugged his mother and said goodbye. It was a five day journey to the mountains, plus a few days to find the dragons. Derek and Stiles hoped to be back in two weeks.

"Goodbye, darling," Derek's mother said, kissing him on the forehead. "Be safe."

"I will be," Derek promised. "And you'll take care of Lightning?"

"Of course," his mother smiled at him.

Derek had thought about bringing Lightning on the trip but then remembered that he had bought the wolf to protect the stall, not just to be his companion. The stall needed protecting more than he needed another traveling partner. He also didn't know how the dragons would react to a wolf and he didn't want Lightning getting attacked. 

Before he had left the stall earlier he had sat down with his wolf and explained that Derek would be gone for a while, but not to worry, he would be back. He liked to believe that Lightning understood him, he had whined when Derek walked away as though he knew this parting was different. It had taken all of Derek's willpower not to call to him and bring him too. 

"Goodbye, Stiles," she said, turning to the other man. "Take good care of my boy," her eyes flashed as she said it, clearly saying _or else_. Stiles gulped and nodded quickly, this was not someone he would ever cross. 

"Mother," Derek muttered, embarrassed, but she just smiled innocently and hugged him again. 

Finally all the goodbyes were said and Stiles and Derek were off. They rode to the edge of the city without traveling through the bazaar; it was too crowded for horses to easily pass through and they didn't want to draw attention to their exit. With any luck no one would register their absence for a couple of days.

They planned to ride for a few hours and make camp for the night after darkness came.

While they rode Stiles chattered on and Derek listened. It was calming for both of them. After night fell Derek directed them to a ruin he had been to once before, when he had gotten lost on his way to visit his father. It was part of the city that had existed before the one they lived in now. Most of it was gone, but one lone stretch of dwellings remained. 

The roof was gone on the one Derek chose so they could look up at the stars before slumber. One of the sandstone walls had fallen but Derek still entered through the door because it was proper. Stiles happily jumped in over the rubble instead. They both rolled their eyes at the other.

It made a good campsite and after settling the horses they unrolled their blankets and were soon asleep. 

Stiles woke in the morning knowing something was wrong. He could feel it before he even opened his eyes. Silently he tried to figure out what had triggered the feeling. He still had his blanket, he could hear Derek still breathing, he could he hear the horses whining in fright, oh, crap, that was probably it. If something was frightening the horses it was probably going to frighten Stiles too. 

He listened harder trying to hear what had set them off. Wind, no footsteps, no thunder, wings, huge by the sound of their flapping. Please be birds, please be birds. Stiles finally opened his eyes and looked into the sky. Directly above them the sky was clear so he sat up to see outside the walls; two dragons hovered a mile from where they were camped. 

"Derek," Stiles squeaked. No response.

"Derek," he accompanied his squeak with a shoulder punch.

"Wah-" Derek mumbled, swatting at Stiles. His eyes were still closed and he was rolling away from him. Stiles crawled closer and shook him. 

"Derek, there are dragons following us, wake up."

Derek was suddenly awake.

"Where," he barked, far too loudly for Stiles liking, as he got up to look around. 

"Over there," Stiles pointed. Derek turned and focused on the two beasts. He seemed to be staring them down which seemed like a huge mistake to Stiles who was looking for a way to dig himself into the ground. There seemed to be a nice flat rock by the entrance, maybe he would grab it and start digging. 

"It's fine," Derek said, breaking into Stiles plans for the underground cave he was planning to live in.

"Two dragons following us and you say it's fine?" Stiles asked, shocked. "When does it become a problem for you exactly, when they're already on top of us trying to eat us for dinner?"

Derek nodded, "Pretty much," he put up a hand before Stiles could interrupt. "Those are southern dragons. They won't do anything to us with the king still lives. Their job is to capture the egg if the king should pass on and bring it to the south. If they get the heir the southern dragons will be returned to the power they had before the last war. But they can't act while the king lives. As long as they don't attack we know the king is alive and we still have time to stop the war."

"But the second he goes, they attack and we're toast."

"Pretty much," Derek confirmed, he really wasn't one for sugar coating anything. 

"Okay, so as long as they're over there, we're good. At least now we have a way to know that there's still time," Stiles was trying to find the positive but it was difficult. They were only getting started and they already had two dragons following them through the desert. That seemed promising. 

Derek was packing up the horses and trying to calm them down. They weren't frantic yet, but they were certainly making known their objection to the dragons. Stiles tried to help calm them down, but might have only made them worse, he was to worried to tell the difference. 

"Let's go," Derek said when everything was packed. They exited the building and continued toward the mountains. Stiles wondered what else they would encounter before the day's end.


	7. On the Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to throw in a little conflict.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and fixed a continuity error I found. So to clear up, the Dragon King is currently a dragon of the north. The southern dragons want to kidnap the heir and give the southern dragons the new king so they can increase their power. Sorry for any confusion.
> 
> Trigger warning: Derek discusses what happened with Kate here. It's basically the same as in canon and it's not graphic at all. I just wanted to let you know, because he is underage, and I don't want that to be a problem for anyone. So if it might be an issue just skim past it. There's plenty of other things to read about.

The two dragons followed them at a steady distance. Stiles felt that one mile wasn't nearly enough distance between him and things that could eat him but they couldn't gain any ground. Both beasts glistened in the sun, their red and gold scales making them look like tongues of flame meandering through the air. 

Their large wings flapped slowly, creating a small breeze that would ruffle Stiles's hair. He was loathe to admit it actually felt a bit nice. The sun was beating down upon them and he was surprised they hadn't spontaneously combusted, yet. Derek's mother had brilliantly packed two overhead shades that attached to the horses' saddles and gave them some protection from the sun. But they both still felt like they were riding through a sauna. 

He probably shouldn't, but he often looked back at the dragons. 

"Yes, Stiles, they're still there," Derek said. He was growing annoyed with the constant head turning. He was also growing annoyed with the sound of Stiles's breathing, the sound of the horses hooves, and the constant motion while riding. The heat was making him irritable and everything seemed to set him off. 

"I know. I just can't help it."

"You know they're there, they know you're here. What could you possible be checking on?"

"Hoping they'll fly off an leave us alone?" Stiles smiled innocently, but Derek just glared at him until he turned and faced forward. "A guy can dream can't he?"

"Dreams are lovely. Expecting the dragons tailing us to suddenly fly off is not. They are here until we make it or bust."

"Yeah," Stiles sighed. They were seriously starting to unnerve him. Every time he looked back they were staring right at him. It was clear they held no value in his life, only in the egg's. Supposedly they would wait until the king was finished to make a move, but what if they got tired of waiting and decided to just go for it? It wasn't like the dragons of the north had sent anyone to guard the egg. What was there to actually stop those two from attacking on a whim? Stiles unconsciously moved his horse closer to Derek's, and Derek graciously didn't say anything. He like the extra comfort too. 

The egg was riding in the bag slung across Stiles's chest. He planned to wear it the entire way to the dragons. He had kept it on last night while sleeping, and thankfully hadn't rolled over during the night. Crushing it in his sleep was a minor worry but it paled in comparison to the thought of taking it off and leaving it unguarded. Yeah, he was keeping this baby on. 

"How do you think things are going at the bazaar?" Stiles asked. "Do you think the Ashwicks have decided to leave your family alone?" He needed something to take his mind off the dragons behind them but perhaps this wasn't the best choice of topics. Too late to take it back now.

Derek thought it over before he answered. 

"My mother should be able to handle anything they throw at her, and since they haven't made any moves yet I think they might be laying off. They might be afraid of the possibility of retaliation by the dragons."

"They probably are," Stiles said encouragingly, "They seem like bullies, and most bullies are cowards. Your mom's fine, Derek," he said the last part as sincerely as he could. Even though Derek didn't show it, Stiles knew that he was worried for his mother. She was alone and Derek felt he should be at her side protecting her, although from what Stiles had seen, and heard, she had everything under complete control. Derek couldn't be in two places at once and he had decided that being here was ultimately the best way to protect his family in the long run, even if it was difficult leaving his mother alone. 

"So," Stiles started, unsure of how his question would be welcomed. In all his time with Derek he had never asked about Kate and he hadn't asked around the bazaar like he'd originally planned. Once he got to know Derek and they became friends, asking others about him had felt a bit questionable so he'd refrained. 

"Yes?" 

"About Kate?" Derek turned to look at him and Stiles quickly added, "We don't have to talk about her if you don't want, but I was a bit curious about what happened with you two. I know she left town, but I don't think I have the true story about why. But seriously, you don't have to tell me."

Derek was silent, staring down at his hands as though fighting a battle within himself. 

"Seriously, we don't have to talk about it if you're not comfortable. I'm not asking so I can gossip about it later. You're my friend, I want to know things about you and the stuff I've heard about this has all been from people who don't even know you. I'd rather get the right story, from you," he bit his lip and waited to see if Derek would respond. 

Derek felt like he could trust Stiles with the truth about what had happened; even if it wouldn't be easy telling him. Breathing deeply, Derek began speaking, "She came into town when I was just a teenager. I thought she was incredible, like no one I'd ever met," Derek grimaced, "A good thing too, the world doesn't need more than one of that vile creature."

Stiles waited patiently for Derek to continue, he understood this story was painful for Derek and he didn't want to push.

"I thought myself in love with her, and I believed she felt the same about me. But she was just using me. We would talk for hours in the stall while I showed her all the different eggs. She had so many questions and I was eager to show off what I knew. I thought it would impress her." 

He sighed again and hung his head, "The last few days before she...left, I thought she was pulling away from me. We were just about to get a new shipment of some rare eggs and I thought that giving her one would bring her back to me. Early one morning I brought Laura with me to the stall to help pick out a good one to give Kate. She was against it but I finally convinced her. We arrived just as Kate was breaking into the stall. She ran towards the center table and was about to throw it over, destroying the eggs, when Laura tackled her. 

"I was too stunned to do anything. I didn't even realize what was happening until Laura and Kate were fighting on the ground. Luckily one of our neighbors heard the shouting and came over and helped Laura tie Kate up. I was still standing in the street. I didn't help Laura at all," he was so ashamed. His own stupidity nearly destroyed the eggs he cared so deeply for and the business his family had worked so hard to create, and he couldn't even move to defend it. He had just stood, like a fool, letting Laura run into danger instead of protecting her. 

But this trip would change all that. Now he was being brave, now he was doing something to keep his family safe and he would see it through no matter what. When he went back to the bazaar he would finally be able to hold his head up, finally be able to look the other merchants in the eye. 

They knew, they all knew that he had brought danger to his family and hadn't done anything to stop it. They had all been there that morning, looking at him, judging him. He could feel them now, surrounding him and laughing at his weakness. He had loved her and suspected nothing. Anyone else would have seen through her in a heartbeat, but not him, not Derek the Idiot. But now, finally, he was rectifying his mistake. He was doing something honorable, and they would all see that, they would all change their minds about him. Finally, they would stop laughing.

Derek didn't even realize he was crying until Stiles put his hand on his shoulder. Silently, Stiles handed him a cloth to wipe his face with and he took it gratefully. For a moment, it was quiet between them as Derek pulled himself together. Stiles kept his hand on Derek, comforting him as best he could.

As though he could read Derek's mind, Stiles knew just what to say.

"Derek, you're not weak. You were in love with someone who did everything she could to make you believe she loved you too. Anyone can be fooled into thinking the person they're with loves them too." 

He leaned into Derek and whispered in his ear, "It's not just you. You're not weak, and you're not a fool. There's nothing wrong with being in love. You didn't do anything wrong, this is her fault, not yours. Okay? She's the one to blame, not you. And whatever it is you believe people think about you, it's not true."

"Yes it is," Derek said, shrugging off Stiles hand, he was too upset to be touched right now. "I can see it when I walk through the street, they're judging me everyday. They won't speak to me...I know why."

Stiles was torn. He wanted to reassure Derek that he was wrong, and that judgement was all in his head. He wanted to tell him that people didn't think that way about him, but he knew the problems Derek was having with his family and all the times they told him to let it go. Stiles wanted to be here for Derek the way he needed, and not just the way Stiles wanted to be. So, for now, he let it go.

He wanted Derek to feel that he could open up to Stiles and be heard, not smothered with reassurances he didn't want or believe. 

"It won't always be that way Derek. I promise," _I'm here, I'm listening, you're not alone_. He didn't know how to say it, so he thought it at Derek really hard and hoped that did the trick. 

After that they rode in silence, each wandering the forests of their own mind. 

* * *

"Where is it!" King Harris shouted as he pounded the table with his fists. He was furious, his crown was askew, and his robes billowed about him. Around him his advisers were running about frantically, clutching scrolls and maps, trying to comply with their wild king. 

"Find it," he ordered. They had all been working in here since the early morning. The king had discovered that the heir existed and he was hell bent on finding it before the dragons of the north did. He planned to open a gate to the egg's location and snatch it back to the castle before the dragons of the north could reach it. He believed that they wouldn't attack the palace if the egg was inside it for fear of destroying it themselves.

His advisors thought the plan was insane but there was no convincing the king of that. Every time someone suggested a different course of action he became more enraged. 

King Harris had opened gates all over the kingdom, sending his soldiers out to every stall selling eggs with orders to find the heir. He cared not for the kingdom-wide panic he was inciting. Soldiers bursting into being and rifling through the merchandise generally didn't cause people to become calmer. 

So far there had been no luck. The stalls were still being searched but the king believed that the egg should be in his hand already and could not fathom what was taking so long. His belief that the search was being slowed by his people's incompetence did nothing for his mood and he took his fury out on those around him.

Adviser Deaton walked into the chamber ushering people out as he went. They were alone in the room by the time he reached the king. 

"Sire," he bowed. "We have sent out two dragon emissaries to search for the egg. It is our belief that it has been taken from its original location and is being moved toward the mountains of the north."

"Moved already! How could you not have caught it before it was moved? Are you incompetent?" King Harris screamed at Deaton. He turned angrily and began pacing. With this sort of childish behavior Deaton expected him to next stomp his feet and cross his arms in a pout. 

"The soldiers have been looking for the egg as diligently as possible," Deaton said.

"Well, clearly, that isn't good enough. We need to find out where the egg has been moved to and we need to find out now."

"I will do my best to locate it, sire," Deaton bowed. 

"You had better," the king threatened. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get to it."

"Of course, sire," Deaton bowed again and left. 

The king kept pacing in the empty room. The egg was the key, if he had it he would have ultimate power. _It will all be mine, the southern dragons are as good as slaves, and the dragons of the north will soon bow to my might. The heir will bring them to my feet._ He rubbed his hands manically, face lit up with demented glee. 

There was a knock at the door.

"Enter."

"Sire," Advisor Chris Argent bowed as he came before the king. "Stiles is gone. The soldiers searched the bazaar where he was set up but he has left. The Hale boy is also missing."

"Why are you telling me this? What does it have to do with anything?"

"Two dragon egg sellers suddenly leaving their stalls, it does seem suspicious. They might know the location of the egg and are setting out to retrieve it and keep it for themselves."

"Where are they now?"

"We do not know. Hale's mother said he is journeying to his father and Stiles is returning to the palace."

"Have you checked with the father? Is the boy there?"

"We have checked with his father, but if he is traveling there he wouldn't have arrived yet. He could be anywhere along the way," Chris hastened to add, "but we will continue to check back to see when he arrives."

"They have the egg. I can feel it." 

Advisor Argent wanted to argue but knew it would be futile. He felt it highly unlikely that the two boys had the heir but King Harris was expert at jumping to conclusions. 

"If Stiles is on his way here he won't arrive for a few more days," Adviser Argent added. 

The king looked darkly at him, "He isn't coming here. He is traveling to the mountains and we need to be there first."

"Why to the mountains, sire."

"If he has the heir he will use it to gain control over the dragons of the north. To do that he will need to find them first. But we will be there when he arrives and take the egg."

"We can't send troops while the dragon's king lives. They would be attacked as soon as they arrived."

King Harris glared, "Yes, as _King_ I was actually aware of the terms of the treaty."

 _Really?_ thought Argent. 

"Prepare the dragons we have under our power and make sure they are ready to move at a moments notice. Ensure the troops are also ready to go. Once the king is gone we will open a gate to send them all through. We will stop the egg before it reaches the dragons of the north. Once we possess it they will not attack."

Argent questioned the king's sanity. Put the heir in front of its parents and expect them not to do everything in their power to get it back? No, they would attack without question, no matter the forces they faced. And if the last war was anything to go by, they would be faced by nothing more ferocious, to their mind, than ants. 

* * *

Night had fallen and it was time to make camp. There was no ruin to shelter in, but they did manage to find a few scrub trees to tie the horses to. Both men, weary from traveling in such heat, fell asleep quickly. 

Derek's thoughtless slumber was soon interrupted by a vivid dream.

"Hello," two voices said in tandem. A man and woman, with robes and hair of red and gold, walked up to Derek. He was sitting behind the counter in the Hale stall. Across the road the stall facing him sat vacant. 

"Who are you?" Derek asked.

"We're here to help you. You are very important. We need to make sure you succeed," they were still speaking in unison. 

"Succeed in what?"

"Your mission. It's very important. You want it to succeed, don't you."

"Of course, what mission? I don't remember any mission."

"You are going to save the kingdom. All on his own our idiot is going to become a hero," the woman said.

"If he does what he's supposed to do," the man added.

"It has to be you."

"No one else can do it."

"You must stop them if they try."

"Do you understand? You must be in _control_ or it's going to end badly."

"Remember the past, or relive it. The choice is yours."

"What-" Derek began to ask, but by then they were already gone. He was alone in the stall. Shaking his head, he went back to the object in his hand. Delicately he traced the black lines running over the egg he held. It seemed important but he wasn't sure why. It was so tiny, and he didn't know where it had come from.

He was hungry; he should go to Danny for lunch.

Derek got up and walked to Danny's, carefully holding the egg in his hands. It seemed awfully small. He'd considered hiding it but didn't want to leave it alone. He knew it was precious and didn't want anything to happen to it.

When he arrived at Danny's there was an unfamiliar face looking out at him.

"Hi, Derek," the slender man said. 

"How do you know me?" Derek asked. 

"Everyone knows you, Derek," he was distracted by the egg Derek was holding, "What's that?" 

"An egg."

"Can I have it?"

Derek was taken aback. He had just met this guy, why was he asking for the egg? Should Derek give it to him? He looked up at the guy and a beautiful smile and bright brown eyes looked back at him, beseechingly. Maybe this would make this guy his friend. He didn't know where the egg had come from, might as well give it over. Derek was so lonely, if he gave up the egg he would have a friend. That seemed fair.

"Okay," he said and handed over the egg, pushing down the feeling that he shouldn't let it go.

"Thanks," the man said. He shook Derek's hand after the egg had been handed over. "Now I'll be your friend."

"Good," Derek said. He was proud of himself, he had managed to make a new friend. Now they could do things together. He didn't have to be lonely any more.

"Let's go for a walk," Derek suggested. 

"Sure, just one second. Wait for me over there."

Derek walked to where the man had indicated and waited for him. He was facing away and couldn't see what the man was doing, but suddenly he heard a smash. Quickly he turned around to find out what had happened.

"Let's go, Derek."

"No, what was that sound?"

"Nothing for you to worry about."

The man pushed Derek to get him to move but Derek wouldn't move. Dread filled him as he walked back to Danny's stall. He looked behind the counter and saw it. The egg was lying in pieces on the ground. He turned horror struck eyes to the man, unable to understand what he had seen.

"How could you?" he cried, "I trusted you. Why would you do that? I should never had let you have it. I was supposed to protect it and I failed...again," Derek shouted and tore at his hair. How could he have done it again, let his guard down again, failed in his duty to protect again? He fell to his knees and sobbed.

"Derek, Derek wake up. It's just a dream, wake up, Derek," Stiles shook Derek, trying to wake him from his nightmare. 

Derek's eyes opened and he pushed Stiles away. Stiles hadn't been expecting it and fell backwards. He put his hands out to placate an obviously confused and distraught Derek.

"It's just me, it's Stiles. Your safe here, everything's fine, nothing bad has happened."

Why was the man saying that? Didn't he know what he had done? How could everything be fine when that jackal had just smashed Derek's egg. 

"Stay away from me," Derek said and scrambled away from Stiles. Where was it? He knew it was around here somewhere, he wouldn't fail again. His eyes searched frantically until they landed upon his target, the bag slung across Stiles's chest. He lunged. 

"Woah, Derek stop. Derek, let go of the bag!" Derek had grabbed the bag and was trying to tear it from Stiles. He was just as strong as he looked and Stiles was having a hard time getting away. He didn't know what had come over Derek and he couldn't let him have the egg in such a crazed state. This was the key to his father's safety and he wasn't letting it go to a madman. 

"Give it me," Derek shouted as he continued to fight Stiles. He was careful not to throw himself against Stiles and crush the egg. Instead he was trying to knock him unconscious and take the bag.

"Derek, stop this madness. The egg is safe, you're only going to hurt it if you keep," he blocked another hit, "fighting," and another, "me." He had to get through to Derek or the egg would be hurt. He went limp. Derek hadn't been expecting it and he lurched forward and overbalanced. Stiles seized his chance and shouldered Derek to the ground. He ran to the horses and drew the dagger he had packed. 

Stiles brandished the knife as Derek climbed to his feet and turned to run at him.

"Derek, I don't want to hurt you. We're on the same side. We both want this egg to be safe but that can't happen if we're fighting. You have to calm down or I'm leaving without you," he wouldn't have a moments rest if he did, constantly looking over his shoulder for the next attack, but he needed Derek to come to his senses. 

Derek faced him, shoulders heaving, hands outstretched to grab the bag, knees bent and ready to launch him forward. He stared at Stiles with the look of a wild animal defending its young. Stiles couldn't see his Derek at all. 

Slowly Derek's breathing returned to normal, he straightened up and lowered his hands. 

"Give me the bag," he commanded.

"No," Stiles said, not lowering the knife. He looked into the eyes facing him and still didn't see Derek. Whoever this was, he wasn't getting the egg. 

"I will have it!"

Stiles straightened up and tightened his grip on the dagger, "No."

Derek seemed to realize that he was serious and thought better of running toward an armed man. 

"Fine, but I will watch you every moment. And if anything happens to that egg, you won't make it to the mountains."

Stiles shuddered. Who was this? What had happened last night to bring such change to Derek? This journey was difficult enough without losing his only ally. Would Derek come back to him before they reached the dragons? Stiles desperately hoped he would.

"Pack your horse," Stiles told Derek. Silently he thanked the heavens that he had woken before Derek and he was packed and ready to ride. 

He backed away from the horses as Derek approached. The dagger was still gripped tight in his hand as he watched Derek pack. 

"Let's go," Derek bit out once he was finished. He had swung himself up and was staring down at Stiles. 

Stiles nodded and put the dagger in his boot. He seated himself up and drew it again. He could hardly believe that he would actually need to use it, but he didn't want to be without it either.

They rode out in silence, side by side as before since neither wanted the other at their back. But now they were more than an arms length apart so they couldn't be pulled off their horse. Derek kept his eyes on Stiles, glaring at him across the impass. It was unnerving and Stiles kept the knife tight in his grasp. He didn't look directly at Derek, but could see him from the corner of his eye. If he made a move toward Stiles, he would be ready. 

Behind them the two glinting beasts flew on, steadily tracking their prey, waiting for the moment to strike.


	8. Chapter 8

At first Stiles had been afraid of Derek and whatever had come over him, but it had been two hours and now he was annoyed. Derek was being a stubborn, suspicious little ass and Stiles had had just about enough of it. 

"I know I'm gorgeous but you don't have to stare; this show isn't going anywhere."

And where did Derek get off acting like this? The egg was in Stiles's stall which made it Stiles's responsibility; he had _allowed_ Derek to accompany him. That didn't give the man rights to the egg. No, Stiles was fully within his rights to hold onto the damn thing and Derek could just get the hell over it.

"Seriously, Derek chill out. Where do you think I'm gonna go with the egg? We're both trying to get it to the mountains."

Okay so Stiles had wanted Derek to come for the company...and protection, but still, that had totally been Stiles's choice. He could send Derek home anytime if he wanted.

Derek growled.

Okay, maybe not, but he could be righteously indignant in his head and that was just as good. So there.

They rode in silence for another ten minutes until Stiles gave in to the need to talk, even if it was only to himself. On and on he chattered as Derek got more and more ticked off.

"Stiles, would you just shut up," Derek finally snapped. He looked about two seconds away from jumping onto Stiles's horse and smacking his head into the pommel. Stiles looked over at him and decided for health and safety reasons that silence might be the best way to go. 

"Hello, Stiles."

Stiles head jerked up. He was looking right at Porter Ashwick. Stiles gasped. Where the hell had he come from? There was nowhere to hide here. How could he possibly have not only snuck up on, but actually overtaken, them? They had been riding alone through a flat desert a second ago and now Porter was right in front of them. Stiles clutched the egg's bag instinctively. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" Stiles hissed. Porter must be here for the egg, why wasn't Derek attacking him? Come on Derek, time to do the growly violent bit. He tried to look meaningfully at Derek without taking his eyes off Porter, which was significantly more difficult than he thought it would be. Derek didn't seem to get the 'sic em' boy' message. Pity.

"Stiles, what do you think I'm doing here?" Derek asked irritably, "I'm not riding through the desert for my health. We're going to the damn mountain. Now, Shut Up."

So Derek still hadn't seen Porter; but he couldn't have missed him, there was no way. Crap. Stiles was having hallucinations. 

"No your not."

And now he was having his mind read. Fantastic. It was usually a good thing when your enemy could read your mind. 

"You're not having hallucinations. I'm really here talking to you. Derek just can't see me."

The heat must be getting to him.

"You need to give Derek the egg. He's not in his right mind right now, but the egg will fix that. Trust me. No really, trust me," he responded to Stiles's raised eyebrows, "I'm telling the truth. Give him the egg and his mind will clear."

With that Porter winked out of existence. Did that really just happen or was Stiles actually losing it? They hadn't even been traveling that long; how fatigued could he be? Whatever. He wasn't listening to the guy trying to screw up his friend's life. And Derek was still his friend no matter how crazy he was acting right now. They were both under a lot of stress at the moment so it was understandable that Derek wasn't at his best.

But Stiles did wish Derek trusted him more. He was starting to grow fond of Derek and its hurt that Derek didn't trust him with the egg _he_ had found. It felt like being told he wasn't fit to care for his own kid or something.

He could have left without even telling Derek about the egg but he hadn't. That ought to count for something even if Derek didn't think so.

He turned to look at Derek; he had turned his head and was now facing forward. That was progress. At least he wasn't staring Stiles down anymore. While it was nice when he had Derek's attention, normally, this was not at all the way he wanted it. Frankly it was creepy as hell.

"Derek, what happened?"

Silence.

"Yesterday we were in this together. Why is today different?"

Louder silence. 

Stiles waited. Derek had heard him. If he wanted to answer, he would.

"I dreamt the truth."

Wow, Derek sounded like some kind of born-again prophet. Was he gonna cut his hair and lead some imaginary troops to battle? Stiles would pay to watch that.

"I realized I was making a mistake letting you have the egg," he turned and looked at Stiles with fire in his eyes, "Give me the egg, Stiles."

Without warning he kicked his horse toward Stiles. Stiles spurred his own horse to a gallop and began to race away. He had narrowly avoided being hit by Derek and now needed to put as much space between them as he could. Derek's arm had been extended, hand reaching out, preparing to drag Stiles off his seat.

The look on Derek's face seemed even to give the horse wings; it knew when a predator was after it and fairly flew, the ground becoming a blur underneath the fleeing pair.

Stiles's horse kicked up swirling dust clouds as it went and he prayed that would slow Derek down but didn't dare look back to check. His heart was pounding and he could feel his body heating up even more as the urge to flee took over. Behind him he could hear the other animal chasing him.

The sound of hooves pounded in Stiles's ears, and then suddenly he heard Porter shouting.

"Give him the egg, Stiles."

Stiles looked around for Porter but didn't see him. Only his voice was present.

"Seriously, just give him the egg."

"Why?! He's gone off the deep end, he'd probably just smash it."

"Trust me!"

"Why in Hell would I do that?" Stiles bellowed. His eyes were searching the horizon but there was nothing in front of him but a flat stretch of sand. No people, no buildings, nowhere to hide from Derek. Unless the horse could gallop all the way to the dragons, he was in trouble.

"What other options do you have?" Porter shouted back, "Either he catches you and you fight for the egg, possibly smashing it, or you give it to him and keep it safe."

"But what if he-"

"Do you see anything around here that's going to help you? No, it's just me and I'm telling you to Give Him The Egg!"

"Fine!"

Stiles slowed his horse down which Derek wasn't expecting. He ended up racing right by him and turning around.

"What are you playing at, Stiles?" Derek growled suspiciously. He was riding back and forth in front of Stiles, blocking his path.

"Nothing. I'm going to give you the egg, but you have to swear not to hurt it."

"Of course _I_ won't hurt it. Your the one who can't be trusted with it so hand it over."

Stiles moved slowly so he wouldn't spook Derek into an attack. He no longer knew what to expect from his friend. It saddened him that they had come to this. Maybe Porter could be trusted and handing the heir over would fix things. This day was so topsy turvy he didn't know who to believe. But either way Porter was right; he couldn't just keep running from Derek. Eventually he would have to stop and Derek would fight him for the egg. At least this way he didn't risk accidentally destroying the egg; just doing it on purpose.

He gently held the bag out to Derek who rode up and took it. He brought the egg to his chest and cradled it lovingly. He looked like a mother cat curled protectively around her offspring. And seeing that Stiles knew, knew that they were safe from each other, knew that the trouble had passed; whatever had come over Derek was gone now. Stiles's friend was home. 

Slowly Stiles rode to Derek's side and laid a hand on his shoulder. Wordlessly he let Derek know that he was still here; what just happened hadn't driven Stiles away. They were on this journey together and while it might be rough going sometimes, and sometimes they might lose their way, in the end they would be there for each other. He wanted Derek to be absolutely certain of that. 

They stayed that way for quite a while. Finally Derek looked at Stiles through eyelashes wet with tears.

"Stiles...I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"It's okay. You really scared me back there, but that's over now."

"I had this dream. These people were talking to me, warning me off you. And then I woke up and I couldn't control it," Derek sounded scared, "I just had to get the egg away from you. I thought you would destroy it." Stiles heart went out to Derek because right now when he looked at him he saw a little lost boy who just needed someone to hold him. This was the young, frightened child Derek had buried inside himself.

"I wouldn't do that, Derek."

"I know. I do. I'm sorry I tried to attack you...Maybe it would be better if I finished this alone. I don't know what came over me and I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't. And I'm not going anywhere. This is our journey to do together," and if Derek thought for a second that Stiles was leaving the egg without seeing it all the way home he had another thing coming.

Derek nodded and wiped at his eyes, "Alright. Then let's get going."

He didn't offer to give the egg back and Stiles didn't ask. He didn't understand why the egg had wrought such a great change in Derek but he didn't want to risk changing him back.

They rode on, the silence that emanated from them spread out, farther and farther, until it filled the vast emptiness that surrounded them. On they rode, cloaked in the tension that came from knowing something was wrong, and refusing to talk about it.

They might have gone the whole journey silent if it weren't for the soldiers who appeared behind them. Stiles saw them during one of his many looks over his shoulder; he still hadn't been able to shake the habit. When he saw them he froze; maybe they wouldn't see him if he wasn't moving. That was a thing, right?

"Derek," Stiles hissed as quietly as he could.

Derek looked at him questioningly but didn't say anything. Stiles jerked his head backwards so hard he nearly pitched himself off his horse. Derek's lips quirked up in a small smile but he squashed it away almost as quickly as it had arrived. He looked where Stiles had so gracefully indicated and turned his horse around. It was clear he meant to charge the soldiers and attack before they noticed he was after them.

Stiles grabbed his arm and shook his head frantically; apparently they had decided to go nonverbal for this. The soldiers hadn't seen them yet and maybe they would leave before anything happened. If the soldiers saw them, they would attack. But maybe they would leave without looking around. Otherwise it would be impossible for them to miss the pair, so dark against the sand.

The magic of the egg would allow the dragons of the north to know as soon as the egg came into the possession of the southern dragons, but if the humans took it the dragons of the north wouldn't know until the egg hatched. If they were able to sense the heir they would have descended on the bazaar the day of the flyover. 

Even though the soldiers were a mile away Stiles tried to keep his breathing silent for fear of giving them away. He thought about getting off the horse and laying on the ground to make himself smaller but didn't want to risk the soldiers seeing movement from the corner of their eyes and charging. He prayed Derek wouldn't do anything rash and get them skewered on the soldiers' swords. He didn't think he would look good as a shish kabob. Derek probably would, the idiot looked good sweaty, suspicious, and pissed off in the middle of the desert. He'd probably look fantastic being hauled away by guards, maybe in shackles... _Focus Stiles, this is not the moment_.

Derek hadn't wrenched out of Stiles's grip yet which Stiles took as a good sign; he clung on tightly just in case. Together they stared down the soldiers conversing with their two followers. Stiles wished he could hear what they were talking about.

Minutes crept by; with each passing moment Stiles became surer that they were planning the best way to attack and make it seem like they hadn't. He kept waiting for the men to turn and charge but they never did. He didn't understand. Beside him Derek seemed like a wall of calm before the storm; a fury just waiting for the chance to rain down upon those who would ride against him. 

Finally, finally, after what seemed an age, the soldiers opened a gate and left. The dragons however were still present.

"Do you think we can talk yet?" Stiles whispered. 

Derek rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Stiles, it's fine."

"Okay good, so what the hell was all that? Why we're the soldiers talking to the dragons?" Stiles was still whispering, just in case.

"They're probably reporting back to King Harris about us. Or they're giving the dragons instructions on how best to eat us."

Stiles looked aghast. 

"Kidding."

Stiles smiled and felt some of the tension leave. He and Derek were starting to get back to normal. At least the soldiers had been good for something other than scaring the bejeezus out of Stiles. 

"I don't know why they didn't see us but let's not question it. We need to get to the mountain quickly."

Stiles agreed and they rode off at a faster pace than before. They couldn't full out gallop without exhausting the horses but they could push them more. Getting there as soon as possible just became more urgent.

Before now Stiles had felt they had all the time in the world. He knew there was a deadline, but it had seemed so distant; more like make believe. Now it was a real. He had believed with complete certainty they would arrive with time to spare. That belief was gone now.

Derek was angry. Who had invaded his head last night, because he knew that someone had. Those thoughts hadn't been his own, those words someone elses. And they had made him turn on Stiles, Stiles his first friend in years; the first person he had trusted in what felt like forever, and he had tried to attack him. Derek wanted to bury his head in his hands and sink into the ground. 

How could he have done that? Shouldn't he have know better, even possessed, shouldn't it have been ingrained inside him that Stiles was someone to be protected and cherished. Would Stiles ever forgive him? Derek wasn't sure he deserved it.

Stiles was still here but he had to stay. He had to get the heir to the mountains or risk putting his father in danger; even if he hated Derek he wouldn't leave. They would be at the mountains the day after tomorrow. Did he have enough time to get Stiles to trust him again?

It had been strange, but as soon as Stiles had given him the egg, his mind had cleared. At once he had felt fully himself. Moments before he hadn't even realized anything was wrong with him, the fire running through his blood had been reason enough, true thought had never entered the picture. But once he held the egg he could feel it cool him; fresh water suddenly flowing through the streams in his mind.

Stiles had stopped running and given Derek the egg, why? That didn't seem like him to just give up like that.

"Stiles."

"Yeah."

"Earlier, why did you give me the egg? Why did you stop running away?"

Crap, what was he supposed to say. Derek had flipped out earlier and said he didn't trust Stiles. He didn't think telling him that the disembodied voice of the guy trying to destroy his family had told him to do it would earn him any brownie points. But not telling wasn't lying was it? It was just evading a bit, which was fine. Even if it felt like lying.

"I'm waiting."

Tell, don't tell...Uhh? 

"I just figured that eventually you would catch me and attack so I decided to just hand it over so I would risk getting beaten to a pulp."

"Oh."

Stiles looked over and saw Derek looking at his hands as they gripped the reigns. He looked so ashamed of himself and Stiles knew he was thinking about what he would have done it he had caught Stiles. So instead of doing the honorable thing and telling Derek the truth, he had covered his own ass and made his friend feel like shit. Well done Stiles.

He could practically hear his father telling him to fix it. He had always been a stickler for doing the right thing. This was a prime example of why Stiles was not cut out for a life in the palace guard. 

"What I meant was I didn't want the egg to get smashed during the scuffle so I thought just handing it over would be a better way of keeping it safe. That's all." He wanted to tell Derek that he was sure he wouldn't have hurt Stiles, but he knew Derek would hear his uncertainty and that would only do more damage. Derek didn't deserve that. 

After that they rode in silence. They seemed to be doing quite a bit of that.

Night couldn't come fast enough for Stiles. He wanted this day to be over. Finally blessed darkness descended upon them. Just basking in the starlight helped to lift his mood. They made camp and Stiles and Derek laid their bedrolls out next to one another.

"Um," Derek started. He was holding the bag in his arms. He laid it on the ground between their rolls without saying anything. Even through the silence his message was clear. This was a peace offering, letting them both watch over the egg. 

Derek didn't know what to say but he wanted Stiles to know that what happened earlier didn't reflect his true feelings. The egg was their responsibility. He laid down silently facing Stiles. One arm reached out and curled around the egg. He waited and soon Stiles too was lying with an arm around the bag. Together, they would guard the heir. 

Stiles still felt guilty for not telling Derek about Porter but he didn't want to ruin their fragile peace. He knew it was cowardly but he was scared. He wanted Derek to trust him, but wasn't sure listening to Porter would be something Derek could forgive. And if it was, listening to him and then not telling Derek he had been probably wasn't. The longer he went without telling he worse he was making it. 

He covered his eyes, trying to hide from Derek even if he couldn't hide from himself. It was a restless night for Stiles as he warred within himself.


	9. Day Four

"I can't reach him anymore."

"Try harder."

"I'm trying as hard as I can. I'm telling you I can't reach him."

"There wasn't any problem last night."

"Well this isn't last night is it? Something must be protecting him."

"It's the little brat in the egg. He must be stopping us."

"What do we do now? Make a grab for it?"

"How stupid are you? If we take it the others will come after us. Do you feel like fighting off all the dragons of the north because I sure don't."

"Fine, fine, fine, we won't take it yet. Any other brilliant plan we can use instead?"

"Don't get snippy with me. Let's fly closer. Maybe they'll just wet their pants and run off without it."

"Pathetic little humans. Let's go."

The two red and gold dragons swept closer to their tiny prey, flying low over the ground, the sand below them rippling as they moved. 

* * *

"Uh, Derek," Stiles said and tugged on Derek's sleeve.

"What is it now?"

"The dragons are coming closer. That's a bad thing right? It feels like a bad thing. Is there anywhere for us to hide? No of course no, because we're sitting ducks in the middle of a fucking desert. And now we're going to get eaten by a pair of dragons."

Derek looked behind them and saw the beasts coming closer. They didn't look as though they were preparing to attack but Derek didn't like this new development any more than Stiles did. If it came down to it he would fight while Stiles fled with the egg. They couldn't possibly both outrun two creatures that could fly, but he might be able to distract them enough for Stiles to get away. It wasn't a plan likely to succeed but it was better than rolling over and giving up. 

"Calm down, Stiles."

"Calm down?! Calm down?! Do you not see the two Giant Flying Fire Breathing Beasts coming toward us?! How can you possibly expect me to calm down?"

"The horses are calm."

"What? So?"

"They dragons aren't attacking," _yet_ , "If we were in any danger the horses would be going wild but they aren't."

"So what does it mean? Is the king alive or isn't he?"

"I think he's still alive but probably not for much longer. Maybe they can sense that so they're just preparing."

"Oh good, preparing to eat us to death. That's just great. You wouldn't want to get eaten by an unprepared dragon now would you. I feel so much better."

Well it was a start. At least Stiles was calming down, even if he was being a sarcastic ass about it.

"We should reach the mountains by tomorrow," Derek told Stiles. It would have to be soon enough. He would do his best to be strong for Stiles but Derek was getting worried. The dragons shouldn't be getting closer to them. If they came much nearer the dragons of the north would know it. Why were they risking that? What did they know?

* * *

It had been a long day for Guard Stilinski and all he wanted was to fall face down on his bed and stay there. Stiles was who knows where, King Harris was getting more temperamental by the day, and the dragons were getting restless.

He was due for a meeting with the king and his advisers in twenty minutes to discuss how the troops would be organized for attacking the dragons. He sighed, pulled himself up from the bench he'd collapsed onto and walked to the meeting.

"This meeting will commence," King Harris stated and the room fell silent. 

"Deaton, has there been any progress in locating the heir?" the king crossed his arms and stared his adviser down. He was displeased the search had been, so far, fruitless. 

"We have not located it yet. Two guards were sent to the southern emissaries but they, the dragon pair, have found nothing. They are flying through the desert between our border and the mountains of the north. If the heir is on the way to the mountains they will know of it."

"They will report as soon as they find it," the king stated.

"Yes, sire, of course, sire."

"Egg or no, we will prepare for war. The king is almost gone and we will move as soon as he passes. Stilinski, are the troops prepared?"

"Yes, sire. They have all be called home from their searches. They have been informed of what will be required of them to wage war on the mountains." Mountains where the dragons would have the advantage and the soldiers would be lost on the many winding paths. Mountains where his men would be unable to attack properly. Mountains where communication between troop leaders would be difficult. Yes, the troops were ready, to be sacrificed for a power-crazed king. 

"I want them able to go on a moments notice. There will not be a second to waste once word comes in. What's your plan, Stilinski?" The king stared impatiently at his head guard.

"The troops will open onto the ground before the mountain. The treaty with the dragons of the north prohibits us from entering on the mountains themselves as you well know; we wouldn't want to enter in the middle of a dragon nest anyway. Landing in the desert before the mountains will give us the element of surprise. "

"I asked you your plan, Stilinski, not your opinion." Guard Stilinski tried to keep his aggravated sigh to himself. How did the king expect the best out of his people if this was how he treated them?

"The troops will move in groups of five. Half will infiltrate the mountain to find the egg. Half will wait before the mountain to intercept it should it arrive after we do."

"The Hale boy and your son have the egg, I know it. We will stop them before they reach the mountain. So far there has been no sign of them but they must be traveling north to the mountain and we will be waiting for them." There was an evil glint in the king's eye that Guard Stilinski didn't trust. He prayed his son was not traveling to the mountain with the heir to the dragon king, but knowing him and his ability to find mischief, that was exactly what he was doing.

Stilinski would be among the first five soldiers to arrive at the mountain. The king would be the last to arrive, coward. This time it would work to Stilinski's benefit. If only Stiles were able to arrive before the king, he could hide him. The king need never know he arrived. 

The heir was another matter. Stilinski believed it should go to the dragons of the north. It was their child that had been taken from them, who knows how since no one was supposed to go after their eggs, and they deserved to have him back. Getting the egg to them was going to be a problem. If Stiles, the Hale boy, and the heir showed up in front the other guards they were probably going to notice. If they suddenly went missing, along with the head of the guard, it might be seen as suspicious. He would have to find a way to get them to the dragons without the others following. 

The guards all knew Stiles and would recognize him. Even if they didn't, two boys wandering through the desert and just happening to turn up at a mountain their people never went to, yeah, that would probably fly right over the guard's heads. This was going to be difficult but never let it be said that Guard Stilinski backed down from a challenge.

Stilinski realized he should probably start paying attention to what the king was saying. Though to be fair, he probably hadn't missed much.

Now, let's discuss exactly how I plan for this war to go," King Harris said as he stared his advisers down, daring one of them to object. Naturally no one did.

The meeting then became nothing but a lecture from the king on how his perfect battles would go. No one bothered to disagree; he wouldn't listen and they might end up fighting in the army instead of sitting around a meeting table. Far better to keep silent and keep safe.

Stilinski went back to contemplating how he was going to get Stiles past the guards and into the mountain. At least he wouldn't be called upon as the king blathered on.

* * *

Tell him now. No, maybe later. Well waiting won't make the news any better. But how much worse could ten minutes really make it? Stiles was arguing with himself about when, how, and if he should tell Derek about Porter. He would definitely tell him before they reached the dragons. Derek was a lot less likely to ring his neck now for fear of hurting the egg in the attack. But on the other hand after succeeding in their mission he might be overcome with forgiving joy. So many choices. Stiles knocked his head against the horse's neck in frustration.

"Are you alright?" Derek asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm just peachy."

"The dragons haven't gotten any closer. We're going to be fine."

Dragons, what dragons? Right, Stiles was supposed to be freaking about their glittery stalkers. Yeah, that was definitely what this was about. He left his head where it was but grumbled his agreement.

"Seriously, we'll be there tomorrow."

Stiles grunted and Derek laughed.

He felt better than he had when they went to bed last night. The egg had still been resting between himself and Stiles when he awoke this morning and he hoped Stiles realized what he meant when he put it there. He was still working on apologizing to Stiles for his earlier behavior. He took the fact that Stiles hadn't run away with the egg during the night as a good sign. It must still be possible to repair their friendship.

Looking over at Stiles, Derek smiled. The sunlight was streaming down on Stiles's face making him look even more beautiful than usual. To Derek it looked like Stiles's natural goodness coming out and lighting him up. He wanted to run a hand through Stiles's hair but refrained. Now was probably not the time for stroking his traveling partner lovingly. Maybe he could get a congratulatory embrace when they had successfully returned the egg. Already he could practically feel Stiles's arms wrapped around him and it was magnificent. He shook his head and turned to look forward again. Hopefully Stiles hadn't noticed him staring. He didn't want him to interpret it as planning to attack or anything. 

He felt confident they would succeed in their task. He knew the dragons were closer than they has been before, but they hadn't attacked yet and every step put them closer to their goal. They would reach the mountains in time. 

Derek smiled up at the sky, eyes closed, soaking in the sun. 

He looked so peaceful. Stiles couldn't take that away from him. But he should probably go into the mountain knowing everything and keeping something like this from Derek would only blow up in his face later. He gripped the reigns tighter and stared straight ahead as though he would be able to hold the truth in longer if he just didn't look at Derek.

"You know," Porter said as he appeared in the air before Stiles. It must just be an illusion since his horse didn't notice at all. "You really need to be more careful with that egg of yours. Things are changing."

Stiles cocked his head, asking for more information. He couldn't very well talk back if he didn't want Derek finding out. And even though he was planning on telling Derek this was not the way he wanted him to find out.

"That's more information than you really need. But be careful of those two behind you."

With that useless warning Porter vanished. 

Thanks for nothing jackass, Stiles thought. Without you and your brilliance I never would have thought about worrying about the two massive fire breathing beasts trailing us. Nope, the thought never would have crossed my mind. He huffed in annoyance but kept quiet.

* * *

"What do we do now? They haven't run away."

"The king is almost finished. With any luck he'll be gone before those two morons reach the mountain. As soon as he's out of the picture we grab the egg and vanish."

"Vanish to where?"

"That's for me to know and you to shut up about."

"How are we going to get the egg off the Hale boy?"

The female dragon rolled her eyes.

"We are dragons, he's a human. I really don't think taking the egg is going to be particularly difficult. Just snap him in half and grab it."

"Oh, right," the male said, sounding as sheepish as a dragon knew how.

"So we just grab the egg and go."

"Exactly."

"Lydia, you are a genius."

"Obviously."

* * *

Slowly Derek breathed in...and out. He was trying to clear his mind which had again become clogged with worry. Stiles and he still hadn't talked about what had happened and he was dreading the conversation. It had to be held but he didn't want to be the one to start it. Right now at least they weren't fighting. Stiles wasn't telling him about how badly he'd fucked up. He wasn't lashing out at Derek and scolding him for his failure to keep from chasing him, to keep from trying to attack him. 

Derek closed his eyes and tried to push those thoughts away. It hadn't been his fault. It hadn't. Someone else had been controlling him. Right? Or had they just frightened him and his own self-preservation instincts had taken over? Was it possible that he would actually try to hurt Stiles if he thought it would keep his family safe? Did that monster live inside him, or was it all someone else's doing? 

"Agh!" Derek shouted, startling Stiles who jumped in his seat. 

"What the hell? Are you alright?" Stiles asked. He brought his horse closer to Derek. "What happened?"

"Nothing?" Derek hadn't meant to do that. He didn't want to burden Stiles with his uncertainty. He had been so understanding up till now and Derek didn't want that to end. What if he told Stiles what was bothering him and Stiles didn't get it? Would this be the time it was one too many, one too many worries, one too many self-degrading thoughts, one too many things for Stiles to try and understand? He had pushed his family away with his inability to get a fucking grip; that couldn't happen with Stiles too. 

"You don't sound to sure about that. Tell me what's wrong," Stiles looked at Derek. He looked so unsure of himself. "It's okay. Whatever it is. It's fine."

"I'm sorry I attacked you."

"I know and I accept your apology. Now how about you tell me what's actually bothering you."

"What if...," Derek trailed off. Stiles waited patiently.

"What if it wasn't someone making me crazy? What if I really meant to hurt you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if I was just so worried about the egg that I really tried to attack you? I mean what if _I_ did that, not some outer force making me do it. Ugh. I can't explain it. Nevermind."

"No, I think I get it. You mean what if you'd be willing to turn on me if it would save the people you love? I get that."

"You do?"

"Of course. Fear makes people do desperate things. If you really thought hurting someone would keep your family safe maybe you would do it."

"You think I'd attack you," Derek stated and moved his horse away from Stiles. 

Stiles moved his horse closer to Derek.

"No, I don't think that. Derek, look at me. Better. No, I don't think you really tried to attack me. I think that part was someone using you and I'm sorry that happened to you."

"You were the one being attacked I should apologize-"

"And you have. But you were the one who had their mind invaded and I'm perfectly capable of being sorry that happened to you, which I am, so hush. As I was saying," he looked at Derek to make sure no interruptions were forthcoming. "I think that if someone, some stranger, not me, just to be clear; but if someone was a real threat to your family I believe you would do what you had to to stop them. I also think you would resort to violence as a last resort."

Derek snorted.

"Hear me out. Porter's been harassing you for a while now and you haven't beaten him to a bloody pulp yet."

"Of course not, he hasn't done anything yet."

"Exactly. Some crazy violent nut job would have punched his lights out the first day he came around but you didn't. You kept your head and didn't start throwing punches when you didn't need to. You're a good person Derek. You would only hurt someone if you had absolutely no other choice. And since yours truly would never do anything to hurt your family, you don't need to worry about attacking me of your own free will." Stiles turned and looked at Derek, wanting to drive his message home, "It wasn't your fault. I don't know if you can believe that right now, but it's the truth. I don't blame you."

Derek swallowed, "Thank you, Stiles. That means a lot."

"No problem. What are friends for." 

Night had fallen and Stiles was getting tired, and a bit saddle sore; he really wasn't use to riding this far. 

"Let's make camp for the night," Stiles said.

"Just a bit further. We'll stop at those small trees so we can tie the horses." 

"Okay, I think I can make it that far. Possibly. Is it just me or does you ass want to fall off? Because mine does. If you see it drop off would you be a dear and pick it up for me?"

"You must be tired if that's the nonsense you're coming out with." Derek kept his thoughts on how much he would like to grab Stiles's ass to himself. Although he would prefer that it were attached to Stiles at the time. 

"Shut up, I'm brilliant and you know it."

"I know no such thing."

"Yeah right, you-"

A cacophony of noise drowned out what Stiles was saying. The horses immediately reared back and Stiles and Derek had to clench the reigns tightly to avoid falling. The mountains in front of them were suddenly lit up with tongues of flame. All the dragons of the north were either bellowing or turning night into day with their fire. Derek and Stiles were frantically trying to calm their rides but to no avail. Derek looked behind and saw the dragons that had been following them were nearly upon them.

"Stiles, go!" Derek shouted. Stiles too had seen the beasts and was trying to turn to face them. Derek waved him off as he drew his sword. Stiles had to get out of here. Derek wouldn't be able to hold the pair off for long but Stiles at least had to try to get to away. The roaring of dragons was getting louder. 

"Get out of here. I'll try and hold them off."

Derek tried valiantly to point his horse toward the advancing pair but it was desperate to flee. 

"No way!"

What a stubborn ass. Why wouldn't he listen to Derek?

"You have a dagger. They have _fire_. Run!"

"Not without you! Derek, let's go! Maybe we can make the mountain."

Stiles was completely turned around; he had no idea which way to go; he could barely keep Derek in his line of sight. His horse was frightened out of its mind and it was taking most of his concentration just to keep seated. Fire was all around them, the pair following them had arrived and were ringing them in with a circle of flame. He couldn't go anywhere. The noise was too much, it surround him, flooded his mind, left him no place to think. All he wanted was to get away with Derek. 

And then, the beasts were right on top of them. Stiles was hit with one of their wings as he waved his dagger wildly around. It was impossible for him to see what he was aiming at. 

"Get off me!" Derek shouted from somewhere.

"Derek," he coughed out, "Derek where are you?"

"Let go of me," Derek's voice was getting fainter and the flapping of wings was growing louder. Stiles tried to ride closer to him but was disoriented by the flames. 

"Derek, Derek, where are you?"

He couldn't find him. Stiles rode in circles looking for a way out. He had dropped his dagger but his hand has still waving around, trying to catch hold of Derek. Finally his hand closed around something. He grabbed tightly and galloped to the opening he had seen. 

"Derek, we need to get out of here." 

No response. 

They broke free of the flames and Stiles kept galloping trying to get away from the smoke. When he could finally breathe again he stopped and looked at Derek. 

Derek wasn't there.

"Derek!" Stiles cried, looking all around. He had grabbed the reigns of Derek's horse but he wasn't on it. The horses were still bucking and trying to ride further away. Stiles attempted to turn his mount back toward the flames. He had to go back for Derek but the horse would not. He let go of the reigns and jumped off. 

The horses fled and Stiles ran back to where they had come from. He burst back into the ring of fire and began crawling around trying to feel Derek out. The sand beneath his hands was burning hot but he kept moving, desperate to find his friend. Smoke surrounded him but he had tied a scarf around his mouth and nose hoping it would buy him more time to look for Derek. All around he crawled but couldn't find hide nor hair of him. Finally, he crawled out and lay panting on the sand.

Derek was gone. The dragons had taken him. Stiles tried to get up to attempt to follow the vanished beasts but he fell back when he tried. He was exhausted and was unconscious before he hit the sand.


	10. At the Mountain's Feet

"Scott, he's fine. He's just passed out."

"Yeah, he's okay, Scott he just needs to rest and recover a bit."

"Are you sure? He doesn't look to good."

"Well he's been traveling through the desert for five days. He has a right to not be looking his best."

"I guess you're right. When will he wake up?"

"Soon. He'll be up soon, Scott."

Stiles felt like he had tried to swallow the entire desert his mouth was so dry. His body felt heavy and he didn't want to move. Just lying here for a few more years sounded like a great plan. Maybe Derek would lie with him, maybe feed him some grapes. Derek. Derek! Where was he??

Stiles opened his eyes and tried to jump up and search for Derek. He succeeded only in blearily groaning in place.

"He's up," someone exclaimed. Who was that? Stiles couldn't tell.

"Son, can you hear me? What hurts?"

Dad, that was his dad. Why was his dad out here? Did he know where Derek was?

"Ughh," Stiles tried to ask about Derek but didn't quite succeed.

"Erica, hand me the water. Here son, drink it slowly."

Guard Stilinski held Stiles's head and helped him drink some water. Beautiful, cool, wonderful relief; Stiles drank as much as he was able and felt much better for it. He closed his eyes and relaxed in his father's hands as he let the water refresh him.

"Thanks," Stiles opened his eyes. "How are you here? Where are we? Derek was kidnapped, do you know where he is? I need to find him dad." Stiles struggled to sit up, "He could be hurt, we need to find him now."

Stiles was becoming frantic. Those dragons that had been following them had stolen Derek because he had the egg. What would they do to get it away from him? Stiles prayed he was alright.

"Stiles, Stiles, calm down. Derek isn't here and we haven't seen him since we arrived." Stiles's father grabbed his shoulders and looked into his eyes, trying to hold Stiles attention. "We arrived last night and saw the fire you collapsed near. You were alone when we found you."

"Fire?" Stiles was still a bit confused. 

"Yes, a ring of flames and you were unconscious on the sand outside it. We brought you back here."

"Here?" 

"We came back to the base of the mountain. It's the best place to defend ourselves in case they come back."

"They won't be back."

"How do you know that?"

"They have the egg."

The group clustering around Stiles gasped. 

"The egg, the heir, the entire reason we're here?" Scott squawked.

"That's the one."

"Oh good," Scott sat down hard. Allison patted his shoulder comfortingly.

Stiles looked around. Besides his father and Scott, Allison, Issac, Boyd, and Erica were around him. No one else was around.

"Why is it just you guys? Not that I'm not happy to see you all, but where is everyone else? Didn't Harris send the whole army to storm the mountain?" Stiles asked.

His father answered, "He meant to but we think the southern dragons stopped him. Thank goodness or we would be in trouble."

"Why?" Scott asked. He had snuck along, but didn't completely understand what was going on.

Guard Stilinski looked around even though no one but their small group was there. He didn't want to be overheard. "The king thinks Stiles has the heir and wants to take it from him. I doubt he'll do it gently. Until this entire thing is settled Stiles and Harris aren't to come anywhere near each other. Understand?"

"Yes. But why are we here at all? The dragon king is dead, the southern dragons have the heir, what the hell is going on?" Scott sounded so frustrated, he was so confused. Nobody told him anything.

"Okay, everyone sit down. I want you all to hear this once and for all." Everyone did as Stiles's father asked and sat in a circle. 

"The dragon king died last night, that's why we're here." Everyone nodded. "While the dragons of the north had the king they had power over the southern dragons. The last war made that clear; the southern dragons didn't have a chance. Now that the king is gone the dragons are on a more even footing. The dragons of the north have a greater population since we haven't been taking their eggs, but they no longer have the extra power given by a dragon king.

"The southern dragons want to get out from under the rule of Harris. If they have the king they will launch an attack on the dragons of the north with the extra power provided by the heir. They want to be the ones in control. Years of being so powerless has begun to chafe and they are ready to be rid of their servitude. The dragons of the north want their rightful heir back so they can stay in power."

"So basically," Scott began to clarify what had been said, "Having a dragon king gives whichever side he's on a powerup? So the southern dragons want the king to help them defeat Harris and the dragons of the north?"

"That's about the long and short of it."

"Do we even want to get the egg back?" Scott asked.

"Of course we do," Stiles exploded. Were they actually considering not going after Derek? Group be damned, Stiles was going after Derek. He didn't care if he to fight them all of. No one was holding him back. He began struggling to his feet but his father pushed him down gently.

"Stiles, Stiles, calm down. We are not abandoning Derek. We will find him. Alright? Just sit down while we figure out how were gonna do it." 

Fine. He would wait and hear what they had to say. But if he didn't like it, he was going after Derek.

Guard Stilinski turned to look at Scott, "We want to find the heir so that we may return it to the dragons of the north. If we can't give it to them they will attack until he is returned to them."

"But don't they have magic? Won't the dragons of the north be able to tell that the southern dragons have the egg, not our people, and just attack the other dragons?" Scott asked.

"They will be able to tell, but becuase we control the southern dragons they will assume we are in league with them in kidnapping the heir. Therefore, they will attack us too," Guard Stilinski answered.

"That seems quite the dilemma. Perhaps I can be of assistance," Porter said from the middle of their circle. Instantly everyone but Stiles was on their feet, swords pointed at the sudden intruder.

"How quaint. You think your pointed metal toys can hurt me."

"Who are you and why are you here?" Guard Stilinski demanded.

"Stiles knows me, don't you, boy?" he asked as he looked down at Stiles who hadn't bothered getting up. At least now everyone could see Porter so he could actually respond.

"Dad, this is the guy who has been harassing Derek-"

"Harassing is such a strong word."

" _Harassing_ ," Stiles repeated firmly. "He's also been showing up along the way. He's even been a bit of a help," he admitted grudgingly.

"Why are you here now?" Guard Stilinski asked. Neither he, nor any of his men, had lowered their swords.

"I wish to be of assistance," Porter made an obsequious bow.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" Stiles groaned.

"Have I not been helpful before?"

Stiles glared up at him but had to agree; Porter had been right about giving Derek the egg. But, "You could have warned us about the king dying and the dragons attacking us."

Porter ignored that. "You haven't much time so you had better start listening to me." He looked at Stiles, "You need to go into the mountain, find the-"

"Into the mountain?! Into the place full of dragons who want to eat me? Yeah I don't think so."

"Go into the mountain," Porter continued, ignoring Stiles's objections. "Once inside find Lena. She will help you get the egg back."

"I don't want the egg back, I want Derek back."

"The dragons care not for Derek, they only want the egg. Since he is with the egg, get them to lead you to it, and you will find Derek."

Porter made a good point. But Stiles didn't know if he should venture into the mountain at Porter's behest. He had been helpful before but why was he involving himself at all? He hadn't warned them about the imminent kidnapping. Maybe he just wanted to finish Stiles off now that Derek was out of the picture. No. No, don't think like that. Derek isn't out of the picture, he's just, he's just um...walked out of frame; he would be back soon. He had to be. But he wouldn't be able to do it alone. Stiles had to help him.

"Fine, I'll go in. How do I know no one will eat me? And who is Lena?"

"You have my word no one will eat you."

"Or burn me to a crisp or rip me limb from limb?"

"Or burn you to a crisp or rip you limb from limb."

Stiles thought it over. Could he trust Porter? Derek didn't, but Porter had been right once maybe he was right again. He knew that if the dragons attacked him in the mountains he wouldn't stand a chance. But Derek had already been taken and he couldn't let him stay missing. 

"Stiles, there are other ways. Don't go into the mountain," his father said.

"What other way?" Stiles asked. "Do you know how to track dragons? Do you know where Derek is? Because I don't see any other way to find him other than asking the dragons of the north for help." He looked at his father, hoping he would be able to come up with another way, but not believing that he would.

Stiles father thought it over. None of them had magic so none of them could open a gate; anywhere they wanted to go, they were walking there. Since last night no other soldiers had arrived so he assumed that something was blocking them, most likely the southern dragons. He tried to think of something. The dragons wouldn't like Stiles walking into their midst. He didn't want to send his only son into danger but didn't see anything else to do.

"Dad. We both know, our best chance of finding Derek and the egg is inside those mountains. I want Derek and you want peace. If the southern dragons have the egg much longer they will wage war on our people and the dragons of the north. And you know they'll start with us."

Stiles pictured fire raining down on the cities and their people. He looked at his father's face and knew that he saw the same. It was go in to the mountains or walk back to the castle, arriving too late to do anything to help. 

Guard Stilinski nodded. "We're all going with you." He looked at his men, "Right?"

"Right," they agreed. 

"Go in and look for Lena," Porter said and vanished.

"He could have given us a little more help," Stiles said. "What are we supposed to do, go around calling her like a lost dog? I can't see that going over well." He flopped back onto the sand and covered his face with his hands. At least he was going in surrounded by people he trusted. Porter was an iffy proposition at best, but he was their only choice so he decided to do what he said.

Stiles sat up, "Let's go now, the sooner the better."

"Hold your horses there, son. We're not going in half-cocked. Let's come up with a plan first."

"That's what Derek would have said," Stiles said morosely. He wanted to be halfway to Derek by now. The dragons could be doing anything to him and the more time that passed the more he felt he was letting Derek down. Derek would have found _him_ by now. Stiles knew that wasn't true but it felt like it was.

"Everyone but Stiles is armed," Guard Stilinski looked pointedly at his son. "And that's how it's going to stay."

"Fine," Stiles agreed. Swords weren't exactly his forte.

"No one has mapped these mountains so we don't know what we're walking into. Let's head up as far as we can so we're able to get a lay of the land. Stiles will stay at the center of the group and we will all protect him. Once we see dragons we will pick the most amenable looking one and ask them where Lena is." Guard Stilinski knew it was a shaky plan bit tried to like he believed in it.

"'Amenable', you want to find an 'amenable' looking dragon. What does that look like exactly?" Stiles asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's the one that doesn't launch a burst of flame when it sees us. Good enough for you?"

"Yep. That works." Stiles stood up and dusted himself off. He had no food or water. The horses had been carrying everything and they had run off into the night. The group that had arrived had food for five. As a party of seven they would need to ration.

The soldiers put their swords away and formed a protective platoon around Stiles. They turned to face the mountain, and when Guard Stilinski gave the signal, they marched determinedly forward.


	11. Into the Mountains

The mountains rose large and grey above the marching party, casting them into shadow. Soon they arrived at the base and began walking a small path that lead upwards. Once on the narrow path they were flanked by rock on both sides. It was so narrow they were forced to walk in single file with Stiles at the center. They walked for an hour before stopping to rest. 

"It's so dark in here," Scott said.

"The mountain walls are blocking the sun," Guard Stilinski replied.

"I'm cold," Scott said, shivering.

"You're warmer than I am," Stiles told him. He had packed warm clothes for the cold desert nights but hadn't put any on before they'd been attacked. Everything warm was still on the horses. 

His father pulled an extra jacket out of his pack.

"Here, son, take this."

"Thanks," Stiles said gratefully and quickly put the jacket on. It was only going to get colder the higher they went; he would need all the help he could get. 

"What about me?" Scott asked.

"That's the only extra jacket I had. You were a last minute addition, Scott, we didn't pack anything extra for you," Guard Stilinski told him. 

"Huddle with me to keep warm," Allison said moving closer to where Scott sat. They wouldn't be able to walk that way, but they could crowd together for warmth while they caught their breath. 

So far they hadn't seen or heard any dragons and no one knew how much farther they would have to go before they happened upon any. The good thing about the path being so narrow was that the dragons would have one hell of a time trying to reach in and grab them here. 

Stiles wasn't terribly fond of the narrow path and hoped it would widen as they walked farther. Even if the dragons couldn't reach in and grab them, they could still roast them to a crisp no matter how narrow the path, might as well walk a wide path and be comfortable. 

For the past hour they had walked in silence, not wanting to attract the dragons' attention. The silence had been driving Stiles a bit nuts so he held imaginary conversations with Derek to satisfy his need to chatter. 

"Okay," Guard Stilinski finally said, "That's long enough. We should get moving." 

Ahead of them the path split. Guard Stilinski decided they should take the left fork and try to get deeper into the mountain. They would be more likely to find dragons the farther in they went. 

Everyone rose to their feet, stretched, and reformed their line. At the fork they went left and kept marching upwards.

Sometime later Guard Stilinski held his hand up and the group halted. Something had changed. He didn't know what, but he could sense that danger was close. He and the other soldiers put their hands on their hilts but didn't draw. The glint of metal might attract something. Everyone was tensed for an attack: calm, still, completely focused on their environment, ready to move the second something happened.

Stiles was a mess. His mind was racing as his heart rate sped up. He wished Derek was here; he would have helped to ground Stiles. Nothing had happened yet, and maybe nothing would. He needed to calm down and focus on what was really happening, not what he was imagining would happen. He was focusing on taking deep calming breaths until he heard the flapping of giant wings.

From above them a cold wind blew down on the waiting group. They crouched down further, trying to hide in the open. Everyone was looking upwards, waiting to see if the dragon would fly over them. A minute later, it did. 

A dark blue underbelly moved slowly overhead. What light was making it to them vanished as the dragon blocked the sun completely. In the darkness they waited, hoping the dragon's own size would keep it from seeing them in the blackness. 

The seconds ticked on and they were still cloaked in false night. Stiles's hands were on the ground as he crouched. He could feel the cold gravel under his nails as he dug his fingers into the loose path. His legs were beginning to hurt with how stiffly he was holding himself. He wanted to jump up and run but he knew he had to stay still. In the dark he moved his hand along the ground until he found Scott's. 

Scott was momentarily startled by the contact but soon realized it was only Stiles and grabbed his hand, holding tight; the only silent comfort he could offer. 

And then the light began to return, the dragon was flying away. It had been enormous to cover them for so long and Stiles was rethinking the whole, talking to an actual dragon, part of their plan. Couldn't they maybe pass notes or something? Allison was good with her crossbow; maybe they could launch a letter explaining the problem instead of going in person. Stiles figured no one would go for his brilliant plan so kept it to himself. 

Once the dragon was completely out of sight they stood and resumed walking, no one talking about what had just happened, Stiles and Scott still connected by the hand. 

When they rested again later, no one said anything either.

Finally, the path changed. It was now only sided by rock on the right. The left side opened into a basin. And that basin was filled with dragons. 

Guard Stilinski motioned and everyone laid down on the ground, making themselves smaller targets; although the dragons below didn't seem to be paying attention to anything other than themselves.

Their blue scales made them look like cresting waves as they climbed over one another. There were too many beasts for Stiles to count, they wouldn't stay still long enough anyway. They looked like a swirling pool of water as they played down there. At least Stiles thought they were playing, they could be killing one another until only one remained for all he knew.

"What do we do now?" Stiles whispered.

"We go down and talk to them," his father replied.

"What about finding an amenable dragon?" Stiles hissed. That seemed like a better plan than walking down into the mob below them.

"We don't even know if there are any other dragons in the mountain. The longer we take looking for something we might not find, the worse off we are. We are talking to them. Let's go." Guard Stilinski motioned and everyone rose and reformed their line. 

Stiles looked at the trail they would take down and didn't like it. The right side may be a rock wall, but the left was open space. He already knew he would be clinging to the rock the entire way down.

Even though the path was wider everyone stayed single file and as close to the wall as they could go. At least Stiles wasn't the only one worried about falling. Stiles kept looking left to the dragons to see if they had noticed them yet. He knew it would be driving Derek crazy if he were here and the thought of Derek made him smile. It also strengthened his resolve. They had to talk to the big, scary, possibly fighting, possibly playing, dragons because it was the only way to get Derek back from who knows where and Stiles was willing to do it. He hoped that the kidnappers had only been concerned about getting the egg and weren't into killing humans just for the hell of it. Stiles gripped the wall tighter. Derek was fine, Derek was fine, Derek was fine. He repeated his new mantra as they descended closer to their goal. 

It didn't take as long as Stiles expected for them to reach the bottom. But that was probably because halfway down they were picked up by dragons and carried to the bottom. So much for being discrete.

"What spies are these?" the beast in front of them bellowed. It roared its displeasure and sent flames shooting into the now darkened sky.

Guard Stilinski began, "We are not spies-"

"Silence! You humans have come unasked into our presence and yet you have the gall to deny being spies. I know you control the southern dragons."

The entire party were lying prostrate on the ground before a semi-circle of dragons. They towered above them, swaying slightly as they interrogated the humans. From where they were lying Stiles could only see their clawed feet. No matter how he craned his neck he couldn't see all the way to their faces. That was probably for the best, he doubted they were friendly faces to behold.

"Why are you here?" another dragon demanded. Stiles couldn't tell them apart; they all looked the same at the feet.

"We have come to help return the heir of the dragon king to you," Guard Stilinski said. He was looking at the ground as he talked, trying not to offend the dragons. 

A chorus of bellows erupted. Even down here Stiles could feel the heat from the flames being shot into the sky. 

"You have stolen the egg from us. You claim to be at peace with us. You claim to uphold the treaty that prevents you humans from entering our mountains and yet our heir is missing and no southern beast has crossed our borders," another voice roared, shaking the ground as its feet stomped in anger. "You dare to enter here, thieves!"

"We aren't thieves," Stiles couldn't help but shout. He'd ridden five days through the desert, lost his Derek to kidnapping dragons, and was freezing his ass off all to help these guys and he didn't appreciate being labeled a thief.

"Stiles, shut up," Scott hissed.

"Well, we aren't," he said to Scott. 

His father spoke again, "The egg was found by us and we were bringing it back to you. Along the way it was stolen by two southern dragos. We have come to tell you this so that you may find your heir."

"They also took my friend," Stiles shouted, "We need to find him too."

The dragon snorted, "Your human means nothing to us. We will search the southern dragons to see where they are hiding our heir. Until we have found him you will remain here."

That didn't sound good. Stiles belief was confirmed when he was picked up in the jaws of a dragon and carried to what soon realized itself as a prison. He and the others were dropped into a circle of rocks too high to climb and too surrounded by dragons to make escape a realistic prospect. They would be in there until the dragons found the heir and then..? Stiles hoped they would be taken to find the egg, or dropped off nicely outside the mountain. Unfortunately it seemed more likely they would be dropped off the mountain. 

"What do we do now?" Stiles asked. He rested against one of the boulders, remembering just in time not to bang his head against it. 

"Wait. The only thing there is to do," his father told him.

The others all sat down with Stiles.

"Which one is Lena?" Boyd asked. 

Stiles eyes lit up, "Oh yeah, Porter said to find her. Lena! Hey, Lena! Are you out there?" Stiles shouted.

No one answered but a burst of flame shot over the top of their enclosure. Stiles took that to mean 'shut up'.

"Guess not," Stiles said. In the terror of being picked up by dragons and interrogated by the towering giants, he'd forgotten what Porter had said about finding Lena.

"Nice try," Scott said, trying to be supportive. 

"Thanks, buddy." 

"How long will it take them to find the egg?" Allison asked. No one knew. The dragons' magic was something humans didn't really understand. Stiles had thought that as soon as the southern dragons took the egg, the dragons of the north would have know it. And for all he knew they did. Maybe they didn't know which specific dragons had the egg. Would they have to search the entire population to see which beast had the heir or could they just track the egg? Stiles gave up, he had no idea what the dragons needed to do to find the egg and didn't want to worry about it anymore.

"We should try to get some sleep," Guard Stilinski said. The group moved close together. The flames the dragons would occasionally breathe out kept things a bit warmer than they would have been otherwise, but even so now it was fully night and it was cold.

The soldiers were trained to fall asleep anywhere. Since they weren't going anywhere there was no reason not to sleep now but Stiles just couldn't. He wanted to see what the dragons were doing. Wanted to watch and see if he could figure out how they were searching. If the dragons couldn't find the egg what would happen to them? They wouldn't believe he and the others were trying to help and he didn't think they would take kindly to people they believed to be thieves. 

Where was Derek? Was he able to sleep? Stiles looked up at the moon, silently hanging above him. Was Derek looking at the moon? Stiles huddled closer to the others. He remembered lying, in his warm, warm blankets, besides Derek while they traveled. Things had been so much more peaceful then, even though Stiles hadn't know it. He wanted to go back to those nights. He could sleep back then. 

Outside the prison the dragons worked through the night. They didn't speak and gave no indication of what they were doing. At some point Stiles fell asleep like the others. And when he awoke in the morning he knew they were now alone. 

Silence reigned over them. The roars, stomping of feet, slide of scale on scale, gone. He shook the others awake.

"They're gone," he said, his voice shaking. "The dragons are gone. We're stuck in here and they've just left us."

"At least they left us alive," Boyd pointed out.

"We'll try to climb out," Guard Stilinski said. He looked around trying to find the place with the best handholds. The boulders ringing them in weren't as smooth in the daylight as they had seemed when they were placed in here last night. 

"Why would they leave without us?" Stiles questioned as he went where his father indicted. "Did they find the egg? Did they find Derek? Is he going to be okay?" Stiles was getting more and more agitated. His father went up and clapped him on the shoulders and looked right at him.

"Son, I don't know where they went but I'm sure they found the egg. If Derek is wise he will give it to them and they will be satisfied and leave. He will be fine."

Stiles nodded and held in the other questions trying to pour forth from him. 

"Now, we're going to work together and climb out of here." Stiles was so grateful his father was here. He was always calm and knew the best thing to do. If Stiles were alone he would just be running in crazy circles inside the rock prison and not accomplishing anything.

The others were already standing together by a craggy looking boulder. It should provide the best hand and foot holds out of here. 

"Erica will climb up first," Guard Stilinski said and she nodded and began her ascent. "Once she has reached the top the rest of us will form a pyramid for Stiles to climb," he turned to look at Stiles. "We'll help you go as high as we can. After that do your best to climb up and Erica will grab you once you get to the top."

Stiles nodded. He didn't have the training the others had and could use all the help he could get scaling some great big rock. He looked and wow, Erica was almost at the top. That was fast. He walked to the base of the boulder where the others were beginning to form a pyramid. 

Erica finally made it to the top and Stiles began his climb. It took him considerably longer, but he made it. Sweating, panting, and ready to lie down for a couple of hours, he arrived at the top clutching Erica's helping hands. He looked down and saw Scott and Allison climbing up at the same time. They were followed by Boyd and Issac, with his father coming up last. 

They sat at the top of the rock and looked at the deserted clearing. Everyone was starving so they ate a small breakfast before trying to get out of there.

"We'll go back the way we came in," Guard Stilinski said. "We'll just have to try and walk back to the palace." He didn't like the idea of that. They didn't have enough food and water to make it all the way back. And walking through the grueling heat and freezing cold of the desert was not something they had planned for. It would be weeks before they were anywhere near home. 

Their best hope was the king sending out a search party once the southern dragons stopped blocking his ability open gates. If he didn't try to find them, they wouldn't make it out of the desert. He chose not to share that information with Stiles, but knew he would figure it out for himself. 

"What about Lena?" Stiles asked. "She might not have been one of these dragons. Maybe we should try to find her, their could be other dragon families, clans, somethings, in the mountains. Perhaps they'll help us. We have to at least try."

"Stiles, we need to try and get back," his father said. The longer they wandered through the mountain the more food they would eat, water they would drink, and the less they would have to get home with. 

"But Porter told us to look for her and he's been right before."

"Stiles-"

"Dad, I know we can't make it back with the food we have. If we're not going to make it back anyway we might as well try to find her. And besides, the dragons have to eat something right? There has to be food in the mountain and water. They can't live on magic alone." Stiles stared his father down. He didn't know why but he knew that they had to do what Porter had said. They had to try and find Lena. Anyway, it was either wander around and run out of water in the mountains, or wander around and run out of water in the desert. At least here they had a better chance of finding more water; in the desert there was nothing. 

Guard Stilinski thought it over. Stiles made a good point, there had to be water here somewhere. And they were going to find it. "Fine. We will look for water, food, and Lena." His soldiers nodded and everyone got ready to climb down. 

The boulders had been shored up with smaller rocks making it easy to climb to the ground. They broke up and looked around the large clearing, trying to find any food or water stored by the dragons. Issac found the dragons' meat store, but it was all rotten. They weren't terribly picky about their food it seemed. The rest of the party turned up with nothing so they began the ascent out of the basin.

The dragons had abandoned them, they needed to find fresh supplies, and Lena was their only hope of finding Derek. This should be a fun hike.


	12. Lena

Stiles flopped down, "This is it. Just leave me here. I'm not walking another step."

Scott kicked him. "We've only been walking for an hour. Get up."

"No, this is it for me. Either carry me or leave me here in peace."

"Stop being ridiculous."

"Fine," Stiles got up and dusted himself off. "But I'd like it down in the record that I'm tired and would like to go bathing in the lake."

"What lake?" Scott asked quickly as he looked around.

"That one dumb-ass." Stiles hooked his thumb over his shoulder but all Scott saw was more rock.

"Be serious, Stiles, there's no lake over there."

"Yes there is. It's just at the bottom of wherever that path leads. Go check it out if you don't believe me."

The others were standing around looking expectantly at Scott so he ran on the path until he came to a ledge. Looking down he saw that indeed, there was a lake there.

"You were right," he called over his shoulder.

"Don't yell like that," Erica chided him when he returned. "What if other dragons hear you?"

"Well, wouldn't that be a good thing?" Stiles countered, sticking up for his best friend. "We want this Lena character to find us, so maybe going around yelling our heads off is a good idea."

"Stiles," his father said tiredly as he wiped a hand over his face. "Yelling probably isn't the...best idea," he trailed off as Stiles went running down the path toward the lake, shouting Lena's name. "Never mind." He and the others walked after Stiles. The lake wasn't moving, no point in running to it. 

When they all arrived at the water's edge they found a naked Stiles splashing in the water.

"Stiles, do you want to be naked when the dragons find us?" Scott asked.

"What difference does it make? Going by the state of their meat store they prefer things putrid, and seeing as how I'm clean now and you're not they'll eat you before me."

Scott started to object but Guard Stillinski stopped him.

"Stiles, get out of the water and put your clothes back on. You've had a lovely swim but now it's time to refresh our supplies," his father said.

"I for one would like to refresh my water supply away from Stiles's bath water," Erica said. She walked about twenty meters before putting her canteen in the lake to refill it."

"Hey, I'll have you know this is grade A bath water missy. You should be so lucky as to drink this," Stiles called after her.

Guard Stilinski just rolled his eyes. "Just get out of the water, son."

"Okay, okay. I'm getting out. Look, this is me, getting out."

"Stiles!" Scott shouted.

"I gave fair warning. She could have looked away." Stiles quickly covered himself up anyway as Scott covered Allison's eyes. 

"Just put your clothes on, Stiles," Scott whined. 

Stiles dressed quickly, even though he hated the feeling of still being damp in dry clothes. 

"You can let her look now. See, I'm fully covered."

"Thank you. That's all I ask," Scott said.

"Worried she'll like what she sees and come to the Stiles side?" Stiles waggled his eyebrows and laughed. Scott just stuck his tongue out and went to join the others who were filling their canteens near Erica.

"Fine. Just leave me here. All alone," Stiles was at this point only talking to himself, "This water isn't that bad." He dipped his hands in and drank a mouthful. Then promptly spat it out. Maybe the others had a point. He walked to them to fill his canteen too.

Once finished they sat on the rocks to plan their next move. They had no idea of the layout of the mountain, no idea where Lena was, and no way to communicate with one another should they split up to find her. If they came across another group of dragons they had no way of recognizing her from a distance. They would have to walk up to whoever they found and ask for her which could possibly mean many more nights in rock prisons. 

After they rested they fished in the lake and made themselves a nice lunch of fish. Sated, they walked back the way they had come and continued their trek through the mountains. 

All day they walked, finding exactly zero dragons. They passed two basins similar to the first but both were uninhabited. The rest of the group was ready to keep searching as they had been but Stiles was frustrated.

"This is crazy," he burst out, not able to hold it in any longer. "We have been walking all day and haven't found a thing. What are we going to do, wander around until we die of old age? There has to be a better way to find her."

"And what would that be?" Scott asked, looking at him.

"I don't know, but I'm sure there's something. This," Stiles gestured to the footsteps they'd been leaving, "isn't working." He looked up at the sky and shouted, "Lena! Where are you? We're looking for you. Come here now!"

"Dragons probably aren't big fans of being ordered around," Allison pointed out.

"Well I'm not a fan of wandering aimlessly hoping to walk into one," Stiles countered. 

"Do you think they can smell blood?" Scott asked.

"Why?" Stiles asked cautiously. Scott had been known to come up with some truly harebrained schemes back at the castle, him asking about blood now didn't bode well. And given that Scott hated pain and wouldn't cut any of the guards, it didn't bode well for Stiles.

"I was thinking, that if they could smell blood, maybe we could cut your arm, Stiles," Stiles knew it would be him, "and maybe the scent will attract a dragon and we can ask them where Lena is." Scott stood proudly, obviously thinking he had come up with a brilliant solution.

"Umm, how about, no? You are not getting your sword anywhere near my arm. Is that clear? There will be no slicing of the Stiles. Even if they can smell blood it will only attract a dragon that wants to eat me. Lena doesn't want to eat me. If she did, Porter wouldn't have to us to find her anyway."

"But your the one who wanted to try something different," Scott pointed out.

"I've changed my mind. Walking is clearly the only sensible thing to do, so why are we standing around, let's get moving."

Guard Stilinski rolled his eyes and the group resumed walking on. Stiles made sure to keep a couple of people between himself and Scott, just as a precaution.

Gravel crunched under foot, a cold breeze blew, and Stiles shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around himself. Night would be falling soon but right now the path was covered in the watered-down light of dusk. They had walked all day but the dragons were nowhere to be found. Stiles had thought that the different tribes, or clans, or whatever would live close together but they didn't. It must be like human families; the extended relatives are nice, but only sometimes, and usually at a distance. He thought of shouting for Lena again but they were far from the original dragons' home and they might be entering the territory of another. It wouldn't do to get eaten just to because they wanted to shut him up. 

"There's water down the left path," Boyd said.

Stiles looked up. He hadn't been paying much attention to his surroundings. He looked where Boyd was pointing. "How can you tell?"

Guard Stilinski had already turned the party toward the water. If Boyd said it was there, it was there.

"I can see green. If plants are living there, water must be close by," Boyd explained.

"Good work," Guard Stilinski told him. 

"Yeah, good work," Stiles echoed. Perhaps they would find wood and be able to build a fire. He didn't care who saw it, he just wanted to warm up. If it attracted dragons, well, that was just too bad.

Twenty minutes later they had reached the edge of another lake. This one had a wide grassy field surrounding it. And in the corner, trees. Stiles whimpered in relief. He had his hands tucked under his arms but his fingers were still cold and losing feeling. He couldn't wait to warm them up by the fire.

"Scott, come with me," Stiles called as he started walking to the trees. 

"Where?"

"To get firewood."

"Stiles, are you sure that's a good idea?" Scott asked as he ran after his friend. He had a hard time saying no to Stiles. It usually didn't occur to him to vehemently object until the mischief was over anyway. Fat lot of good that ever did him. 

"It's a better idea than freezing during the night. And who knows, Lena might drop by, say hi, chat a bit. You never know."

"Someone else could see it too."

"Don't care. Cold hands win the argument. We're starting a fire."

"Fine," Scott huffed as they reached the clump of trees. The pair began picking up small twigs and branches. Scott might be inept in many areas but he was surprisingly good at starting fires; a fact that worried many people back at the castle. They brought their bounty back to the rest of the party. 

Boyd and Issac were stabbing fish in the water with their swords. Neither wanted to get wet in the cold night air so they stayed at the water's edge. The rest of the group were laying down the bedrolls for the night. Even if nothing else could be said of their captors from the previous night, it had been good of them to let the party keep their supplies. 

Scott arranged the wood and had a nice fire going by the time Boyd and Issac arrived, fish in hand, looking triumphant. Dinner was nice; good fish, warm fire, hell, even the company was good. It could almost be a vacation. Except to Stiles it was glaringly obvious who was missing and that made it harder to enjoy himself. The others were trading stories and laughing but Stiles was picking at his food, wondering if Derek was eating, if he was tired, if he was cold, wondering when he would see him again. 

"He's okay," Scott said quietly. He bumped his shoulder lightly against Stiles's. "We're going to find him." Stiles nodded silently and tried to eat his dinner.

Dinner ended and they all cleaned up and went to bed. Stiles stared up at the stars, millions of tiny specks filling the sky over him. He felt as though, if only he reached high enough, he could pull them down and cover himself in their comforting light. His hand reached out, but he couldn't quite grab them. Goodnight Derek, he thought, I'm coming for you.

* * *

"Get up."

Stiles's eyes shot open. Porter's face was inches from his own. He instinctively pulled his blanket up to his chin, though that didn't offer the protection against magically-appearing people that he'd hoped it would. 

"I'm not here to stare at you in your night clothes, don't worry. Now, get up."

"Why?"

"Because I told you to."

"Not good enough." It was cold outside, the fire was dwindling and Stiles was warm in his blanket. He really didn't feel like leaving it until the sun came up and made outside warmer. 

"Too bad. Get up," Porter dragged him up by his collar. 

"Woah, hey, stop that." Stiles swatted at Porter's hand but it did no good, he was dragged to his feet against he will. He looked at Porter with an annoyed frown. "I'm up. Why?"

"I gave you a simple job: find Lena. Instead of doing that you found the high council of dragons and sent them on the path of the heir. That is not what I told you to do. So why did you do it?"

"It's not like we did it on purpose."

"You walked down to them by accident?"

"Not exactly, but they did surprised us on the way down."

"You were walking in the open above a herd of dragons, and you didn't expect to be seen?" Stiles could tell Porter was restraining himself from rolling his eyes. 

"Pretty much. But that's all in the past. What do you want now? I was sleeping. Something I would quite like to get back to doing," Stiles gestured at his blanket laying on the ground. It looked lonely, he should lie down and keep it company.

"You're coming with me."

"The hell I am."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not - damn," Stiles looked around and realized he was no longer where he'd been a moment before. He was standing in a cave of some sort. It was warmer in here than it had any right to be but Stiles was grateful. It was too dark to see much past the mouth of the cave where he and Porter were standing. 

"What-" Stiles started to ask but Porter waved the question away. 

"Lena," Porter called. "Come out here now."

Stiles turned to look at the back of the cave where Porter was aiming his order. At least housing a fire-breathing beast explained the cave's odd warmth. Stiles took a step back but Porter turned to look condescending at him so he refrained from taking another. 

"Come here now," Porter commanded and Stiles heard the scrape of claws on stone. This was it, Lena was coming out of the shadows. He hoped she was friendly. Or at least full. 

"Why do you call me?" a voice like melted chocolate issued from the darkness. 

"I require your assistance in transporting a group of humans."

"Transport them where?"

"I will tell you when everyone is gathered."

The sound of moving claws grew louder until it stopped and Lena was in front of Stiles and Porter. Stiles squeaked and took another step back, Porter's condescension be damned. Lena was huge and in his face, he felt he had a right to back the hell up. 

"You will bring this boy back to his party. I will meet you there."

"You're leaving?" Stiles may not like Porter much but at least he wasn't worried about getting devoured by him. The new girl he had no clue about, other than the fact she would be able to swallow him whole and he didn't at all enjoy being left alone with creatures that could do that. 

"Yes, I will meet you back at camp."

"What if she tries to eat me? Ahh!" Stiles screamed as Lena brought her face right up to him and huffed out a hot breath. "Look, look, she's already getting ready to decide how best to cook me. I really don't want to be remembered as the guy who went out medium-rare." Stiles looked around at the end of his rant and realized he was talking to himself. He looked dubiously at Lena, "Are you going to eat me?"

"No. Now get on my back so I can take you back."

"You're helping me?" 

"I was told to."

"Yes but you're a hell of a lot bigger than him, why are you listening?"

"That is none of your concern. Now," she used her teeth and lifted him on to her back by the back of his tunic, "sit still and let's get you back."

Stiles clung onto her scales and closed his eyes. He had never flown on anything before and didn't think he would take well to it. Lena walked slowly to the cave's entrance. So far, so good. Stiles could handle this. Then she launched herself into the air and beat her enormous wings, nearly sending Stiles tumbling off. Not good, not good. Stiles did not like this. He gripped as tight as he could and prayed they'd be back quickly. 

He crouched down as much as he was able, practically laying flat, but he could feel the strong wind washing over him as they moved. Why wasn't Derek here? He could lay on top of Stiles and keep him warm, and more firmly attached to Lena. 

Then, with a thud, they landed and Stiles could hear his father shouting for him. 

"Stiles, Stiles, are you alright?" Guard Stilinski and the others all had their swords drawn. They were spreading out and advancing on Lena who observed them haughtily. They were no match for her; they knew it, she knew it. 

"Guys, I'm okay. Really, it's fine. Porter brought me to her and she's going to bring us...somewhere. Porter was nonspecific as to where."

Porter appeared, "Time to go." No one pointed their swords at him; he was no longer considered the biggest threat in the area. 

"Go where?" Guard Stilinski asked. 

"That is for me and Lena to know."

"And us to find out?" Stiles finished hopefully.

"No."

"Never mind then." Stiles stayed where he was, he didn't think Lena would take kindly to him disembarking. 

Porter waved at the soldiers, "Everyone put your weapons away and climb on Lena's back. She'll carry you to heir."

"To Derek?" Stiles perked up quickly. Going to Derek was a plan Stiles could get on board with. "She's taking us to Derek?"

Porter gave him annoyed look, "Yes, she is taking you to your precious Derek, and slightly more importantly, the heir to the dragon king."

Stiles was excited. They were going to Derek, finally. He wasn't terribly excited regarding how they were going to get there but at least they would be there quickly. 

"Alright, men. Line up and climb aboard." Guard Stilinski made up the end of the line. He and the others were packed, the fire doused, everything was ready for them to leave. 

Stiles leaned down, lent Scott a hand and pulled him up onto Lena's back. One by one the soldiers all climbed aboard and held onto one another. Lena's size meant there was room for everyone. They would all have to hold on tightly if they were to stay on board.

Stiles waited, rather impatiently, for the others to situate themselves. It was time to find Derek, and the heir. Obviously the egg was rather important too. Stiles tried to remember that, but it wasn't easy. He only wanted to find Derek and he wanted to get to the finding as quickly as possible. Who knew what had happened to him by now.

"Come on, Lena, let's go," Stiles kicked her sides like he would a horse. She turned and glared at him. Breathing an over-warm breath on his face, reminding him she was in control here.

"Clearly, I was kidding," Stiles patted her scales nervously, "In good time dear, when you're ready." She nodded approvingly and got ready to take off.

"What's flying like?" Scott asked Stiles.

"Oh, it-ahhh!" Stiles shouted as Lena pushed off and beat her great wings. This was going to be a long flight. Stiles hoped Derek appreciated the lengths he was going to just to get his grumpy ass back.


	13. Derek and the Dragons

Derek sat hunched over the bag holding the egg. It was just him and the two red and gold dragons in the ruins of a town. They were in what was once the town square, crumbling walls and forgotten streets surrounded them, empty of life. Here, Derek was alone. 

He thought over what had happened; one moment he had been stumbling around a burning circle trying to protect Stiles and the next he'd been stumbling around a sandy square he'd never seen before. Stiles hadn't been there, the horses hadn't been there, it had just been him and the two dragons crouched and staring at him. Desperately he'd pointed his sword at them and clutched the egg, ready to defend it. 

"Oh that won't be necessary," one of the dragons had told him. From the silken voice he had determined she was female. Her smile made him feel like a mouse before a python. "It's quite simple. Don't hurt the egg, and we won't hurt you."

"I won't." What, did they think Derek had ridden five days across the desert to make a really satisfying omelet by the mountainside? Of course he wouldn't hurt the egg. But could he believe they would leave him unharmed? After all, they had just taken him from Stiles and left his only friend stumbling around a burning patch of desert, how could he possibly trust them?

The female had seemed satisfied and turned away. She and the other dragon had spoken quietly and then the other one had flown away. Even with one gone Derek stayed where he was. There was no reason to try and escape. If he fled he knew they would catch him and he doubted they would be forgiving. It was better to stay here where at least they wouldn't hurt the egg. And with any luck, wouldn't hurt him either.

"Did you hurt Stiles?" Derek asked the female who was no longer paying attention to him. He was afraid to hear the answer but had to ask. If Stiles was hurt he would need to know sooner rather than later. Without knowing where he was he had no way of telling how long it would take him to reach Stiles. He would need to leave soon.

"The other human?" she asked, disdainfully.

"That's him," Derek gritted out. Stiles was so much more than that and Derek did not appreciate her tone but kept his peace.

"We didn't do anything to him."

"So he's alright?" Derek tried to clarify. Stiles had to be alright. And he didn't consider circling someone with a ring of flame and taking their friend, nothing. There seemed a couple of places where his and the dragons' definition of 'didn't do anything' diverged.

"Haven't the faintest. He was bumbling around when we grabbed you, didn't put up much of a fight. What happened to him after we left, no idea." She looked away from him, eyes searching for her partner.

Derek quit asking, he wasn't going to get anything else out of her. Stiles had still been alive when they'd left. So he must be alive now. Alone. Far from home. Derek put his head in his hands. Could he barter with the dragons? If he agreed to give them the egg would they send him back to Stiles?

He knew they could but didn't know if they would. As soon as he turned over they egg they might forget all about any bargain made. He needed to get back to Stiles. Derek didn't have any supplies left other than his canteen which had been slung around him when the dragons attacked. Stiles might not have anything. The dragons would have scared off the horses, which had been holding the supplies. Stiles wasn't going to last long alone in the sand with no food or water. Derek may not be able to trust the dragons but there was no one else to ask. He began to ponder how he would present his idea to the pair guarding him.

The other dragon returned carrying dinner in its mouth. He dumped it at the feet of the female and she took first choice. At least now Derek knew who was in control here. And why were they here? What was she waiting for? These were southern dragons and yet they had brought him to some unknown ruin and not back to their herd. Why? Wasn't the point of this to give power back to the southern dragons so they could be free of the humans? Obviously these two had something else in mind. All Derek wanted was to get back to Stiles and he had a better chance of getting away from two dragons than from a herd. So he was camping with defectors, bully for him.

He looked at the meat the dragon had brought and hoped he would be allowed some once they had finished. There was no game around here for him to hunt. If they didn't provide for him he would have nothing.

"Here," the male said disdainfully as he flung a chunk of meat at Derek. It landed at his feet, now covered in dirt and sand. 

"Thank you," Derek said. He got up to look for old wood to make a fire to cook his dinner with. Perhaps there was some old furniture left in one of the buildings.

"Don't bother," the female told him. She speared his meat on a claw and brought it to her mouth.

"Hey," Derek protested, was hungry and he wanted that meat back.

"Quiet," she told him before she blew a small flame on the meat and cooked it for him. 

That surprised Derek, he had no idea dragons were so considerate, kidnapping aside of course. "Thanks."

"Whatever," she told him as she tossed the meat back. He caught it but had to set it down quickly before it burned his hands. Soon it was cool enough to eat and he devoured it before they could change their minds about him having it. He didn't know why they were feeding him but he was grateful for it. Was Stiles eating tonight? Derek hoped fervently that he was. Perhaps he has made it to the mountain after all, surly there would be game he could hunt. If Stiles could hunt, which thinking about it Derek seriously doubted that he could. It's okay Stiles, he told himself, I'll find you soon. He didn't know how, but he would.

"Why are we here?" he asked but the other two ignored him. They must want to keep the heir for themselves. If they could remain hidden until he hatched Derek believed they could keep the heir and his power for themselves. The power boost the king would give went to whomever he was allied with but Derek didn't know if they were capable of staying hidden that long. The dragons of the north and King Harris would be looking for them, both eager to reach them first.

After his meal Derek lay with the dragons watching him. Protecting him? Ensuring he didn't escape? It didn't make a difference. He wondered what would happen if they were found before the hatching. These two were no fighting match for an army of aggressors, they would lose, Derek would be turned over to whoever found them, the egg would be taken, and then he...well, that didn't really bear thinking about.

Derek rolled on his back and looked at the sky. He would speak with the female tomorrow and try to make a deal. He considered just leaving the egg and running for it. They wouldn't chase him if they had what they wanted. Hopefully. Except he had no idea where he was; he wouldn't even know what direction to run in.

He sighed. Even if he didn't know where to go, he had to get away. Stiles would last fine through the night but soon he would be feeling the lack of food and water. Derek needed to find him soon. Even though he didn't have any supplies either, and his water was dwindling, he was confident he could find fresh water in the mountains. Derek didn't doubt his ability to keep Stiles alive as long as they were together. Tomorrow, Derek would talk to to them tomorrow.

* * *

"Jackson. Jackson, stop eating," Lydia nipped at Jackson's head which was still buried in his dinner's carcass. 

"What?"

"I don't know how much longer we can stay hidden."

"Come on Lydia, you're a genius. We'll be fine."

"Fine? You think we're fine? We need to figure out our next move."

"Babe, come on. You-"

"If you say that _I_ need to figure out our next move, I will eat you. We are both in this and we are both going to figure it out."

"Fine. Who's searching for us?"

"By now the dragons of the north know the southern dragons have the egg. The question is whether or not they know we, specifically, have the egg."

"Can they find out?"

"Yes. If the other human was found by them they could have seen us in his mind. If they've done that it won't take them long to find us." Lydia didn't want to admit that she had made a mistake by leaving the other human behind. All she had been thinking about was getting the egg and going as far from the mountains as possible. In all the commotion she had completely forgotten that if the human made it to the dragons they would be able to locate Jackson and herself in his memory and chase them down. She tossed her head, it didn't matter. She could still outwit them, this just made it a challenge. 

"So maybe we should-" Jackson started but Lydia interrupted him. He really didn't know why he bothered speaking up. She always just steamrolled over him. 

"We're going to put a barrier around ourselves. It won't keep them out but as soon as they cross it we'll be transported to another location. We can try to outrun them until the egg hatches. Then they'll be in for a real surprise when they find us."

"That's good. So let's-"

"Be quiet and let me work."

Lydia rebuffed Jackson with her wings and he laid down petulantly while she worked. She may have said she wanted his help but that never turned out to be true. He went back to his dinner.

"It's in place," Lydia told Jackson ten minutes later. 

"Can you find out if they're coming?"

"No. I can't check the way they can. They have the power, but I've got the brains."

"Everyone knows that. Do you think King Harris is coming for us?" "Of course. He must know by now that the dragons of the north don't have the egg and we do. He doesn't know where we are, yet. His mages aren't as skilled at tracking as the dragons of the north, but they are good. Still, by the time they join the party we should either be in power, or pieces."

"Pieces?" Jackson said quickly. He wasn't keen on being in pieces.

"If we can't keep away from the dragons of the north until the hatching we won't be around long enough to see it."

"We should keep away."

Lydia gave him a clear _no shit_ look and he looked bashfully at the ground. "Rest now, Jackson. We'll move again in the morning."

* * *

They didn't get the chance to wait until morning to move camp. In the middle of the night the barrier was crossed and instantly Lydia, Jackson, Derek, and the egg were transported. Derek looked around from where he was lying on the grass and found himself in a forest he'd never been to before. 

"What happened?" Derek asked, disoriented. All he knew was that one moment he'd been sleeping and the next he'd thumped down on the ground wherever they were now.

Both dragons ignored him. Jackson circled around as the Lydia stood with her eyes closed and created a new barrier. She had to work quickly since their pursuers were so close and she didn't know how soon they would be located. Sleeping for the rest of the night was now out of the question.

"Jackson!" she snapped when she opened her eyes. He had been stalking towards Derek, head bent, looking like he wanted to attack. Derek had grabbed a fallen branch and was brandishing it at him. He had a sword but knew it wouldn't hurt the dragon. He thought the blunt force of the branch might accomplish what the blade could not.

"I just want to help the hatching along a bit."

"And just how we're you planning on doing that?" Lydia asked, looking down her snout at him.

"Heat it up a bit. Those little shits love being warm right? So we breath a little fire on it, warm it, and presto: a hatching."

"That," Lydia said, rolling her eyes, "is not how it works."

She looked at the clearing around them, nodding in satisfaction at her work. Derek still had no idea what had happened. All he knew was that he'd been interrupeed from a rather nice night's sleep and rudely thrown on the ground. At least he'd landed on grass this time.

"What's going on," he asked again. 

"The dragons of the north found us," the female told him.

Well shit. Derek looked quickly around, "I don't see them here." He checked that the egg was still safe in its pouch. It was and Derek wrapped an arm protectively around it. 

"Obviously," the male said. "You humans are so stupid. We moved as soon as they arrived."

"If they found us once, they'll do it again," Derek said. "How long until they arrive here?"

"I threw them a red herring so with any luck they won't reach us until morning," the female told him. Her eyes were trained on the sky, watching for intruders. 

"What happens when they find us again? Are we just going to keep jumping around forever?"

"Not forever, just until the egg hatches. Then we'll find them."

That didn't sound good to Derek at all. He needed to make his bargain now. "How about this. I give you the egg and you send me back to the mountain where you found me?" He gripped the bag's strap, ready to bring it over his head and hand it over. "You get the egg you want and you have one less person to cart around. That should make things easier for you."

"Do you really think that you would still be breathing if we could take that egg from you?" the female asked him.

"What?" 

"We can't touch the egg. It won't let us."

"Won't let you?" Derek was lost. He was touching it just fine. And during the journey Stiles and he had both held it. He grimaced at the memory of how it had come into his care. He still didn't know what had come over him. He wondered briefly if it would happen again should he give the egg up now but pushed the thought away. He would willing go through it again if they sent him to Stiles's side.

"No, idiot, it won't let us," the male cut it. "We can't get anywhere near it; we found that out when we attacked you near the mountain. If we could we would have left your body in the sand where we found you."

"Even if I give it to you? How about I just lay it on the ground and you can guard it?" Derek already knew that wasn't going to go over well.

"Stand around and guard it? Seriously, no. As soon as they find us again the dragons of the north will pounce on the egg and that will be the end of us. You can touch the egg, we can't, you stay. That's it."

"No. I need to get back to Stiles."

"Who?"

"The other human. He's important to me and I need to make sure he's alright."

"He's a human alone at the feet of the dragons of the north. Trust me, he's not alright."

"All the more reason for me to get back to him," Derek said angrily. 

"No. We are not going into their home territory. We're trying to hide from them remember, not make ourselves their new dragon-skin rugs."

"So what happens now?"

"Nothing. You'll stay with us. When the dragons find us again, we'll jump again."

So that was it, why they were feeding him, keeping him with them, they had no choice. Derek held the bag tighter. He didn't know why but they heir must be protecting him; the least he could do was return the favor. He turned his face up towards the night's sky, watching for the dragons to descend upon them. There was nothing else for them to do; three faces, upturned, waiting, waiting.


	14. Derek meets the Dragons of the North

Derek ran his thumb up and down the bag's strap, reassuring himself it was still there. He looked up at the sky every few seconds just to be sure it was still empty. Stiles would be calling him out on it if he were here. He wondered how much longer it would be until the dragons found them again. Any minute now he expected to be attacked. The dragons had found them quickly before and now they were closer than the first time. They would be here soon.

Would he even see them coming? Or perhaps he would be in the jaws of a blue beast between one blink and the next. His eyes flicked back to the sky: still clear. The trees around them: clear. Back and forth he checked with no sign of invaders.

As he looked back and forth his eyes paused on the female dragon beside him. Her red scales glinted in the moonlight, reminding him of something but he wasn't sure what. He looked back at the moon, hoping Stiles was looking up at it too, alive enough to enjoy its light. 

What was it? Derek sifted through his memories, trying to make a connection to the dragons' red scales. Had he seen them somewhere before? He had seen dragons in person before but this was something else, some other memory that he needed to bring to the surface. Perhaps-

Lydia roared, startling Derek out of his thoughts. He looked at her and saw her trying desperately to break free of the magic holding her in place but she couldn't. The dragons of the north had found them, and this time they were ready to keep them in place. The moment they appeared they ensnared the trio in magic so nobody was going anywhere. Lydia struggled to expand her wings, thrashing her body as though trying to cast off invisible chains. Jackson was in the same predicament, lashing his tail to no avail. He too was stuck and upset about it. 

Derek crouched low to the ground trying to avoid the massive tail swinging through the air above him. There was no escape. If they were able to get away he knew they would have left already. All he wanted now was to find the safest place to be. He crawled through the damp grass on all fours, hoping he could make it to the trees and hide there. Unfortunately, when he looked up he saw that they were completely surrounded by gigantic blue dragons. They were swaying and snorting small bursts of fire, looking down at their three captives. 

The tail had stopped thrashing, the dragon finally seemed to realize the futility of its actions, so Derek stayed where he was. He was crouched as low as he could be, bodily covering the heir, unsure of what he should do. Where these the dragons the egg belonged to? Would giving them the egg cause them to let him go, or eat him? He had no way of knowing and he wasn't about to jump up and ask.

His eyes were trained on the ground, he didn't dare look up. If they hadn't spotted him already he didn't want to risk making eye contact with one of them. 

"We can see you, thief," a voice boomed from above. There went Derek's hope of hiding. He looked up to see who was speaking to him but in the dark he couldn't tell.

"I'm not a thief," Derek shouted, hoping they would listen to him, "I was bringing the egg back to the dragons of the north. I was on my way when I was kidnapped. I swear, I was returning the egg to its home." 

"Hmmm." Derek could feel the hot breath on his face as the dragon above him eyed him up. "You claim to be no thief and yet you carry something that does not belong to you."

"I was bringing it home to the mountains. I didn't take it from there."

"Then you will have no trouble giving it back."

This was the moment. All he had to do was take the bag off and hand it over. Then what? The dragons might leave him alone but he still wouldn't have Stiles. And he needed Stiles. He would have to negotiate with them.

Negotiate.

With dragons.

That could eat him if he annoyed them. 

Good. That was alright. Stiles was worth getting eaten over. Well, Derek tried to tell himself that but he really didn't fancy becoming dragon-chow to be honest so he relegated that idea to the back burner. Staying uneaten as long as possible was definitely a better idea. Didn't one of his captors say they couldn't touch him? That the reason he was still alive was that they couldn't take the egg from him? Since it was true for them, and he was still alive at the feet of the dragons of the north, it must be true for all dragons. And while it was true, he had bargaining power.

"No," Derek said defiantly. He looked up from where he was crouched and looked into the eyes of the dragon before him. No matter how intimidating the beast before him might be, he had to believe he had the upper hand. Had to hold on to that thought and refuse to let go until he was holding Stiles. That was how he was going to get him back.

"What did you say?" the dragon boomed. It backed up and brought its face down to look right in Derek's eyes. 

"I said no." Derek didn't blink. "I need you to do something for me first." The breath blowing on his face with the dragon's every exhale got hotter. The dragon was trying to intimidate him. He thought of Stiles's face to keep his resolve strong in the face of quite so many teeth.

"Why would we, the high council of the dragons of the north, do anything for a human?" the dragon demanded. 

"Because I have what you want, and you cannot take it from me. It must be given to you, and until you do what I ask, I will not give it."

The dragon's eyes narrowed dangerously, "You think there is anything we cannot take from you, human?" It stretched out a claw towards Derek's head, clearly getting ready to rip it off. He had to be right. He had to be right that the dragon couldn't take the egg from him. But even as he tried valiantly not to flinch fear swept through him. He had no proof that they wouldn't be able to take the egg. These were the dragons the egg belonged to after all, it probably couldn't wait to get back to them. Oh shit. Derek was a dead man. He was about to get ripped apart. He was never going to see Stiles again. The claw drew closer. He was never going to get to tell Stiles how much he meant to him. It was almost there. Would it hurt? Would he even feel it when-oh. Maybe it was going to be okay after all. 

The dragon looked stunned. It swiped its claw viciously through Derek's center but it simply passed through Derek as though he were a ghost. He couldn't feel it at all. Again the dragon tried, but again he couldn't make contact. So this was what the other two had meant when they said they couldn't touch him. Useful indeed. 

"What magic is this?" the dragon roared. It was furious to be thwarted when it was so close to its prize. The others were all stamping their feet and huffing out fireballs. Derek wondered if he could be lit on fire or if his strange immunity went as far as saving him from being roasted. He really hoped it did. 

All around him the dragons were working themselves into a frenzy. They were beginning to crowd closer to him and a couple of other had taken swipes at him. Both had passed right through him but it was desperately terrifying each time a giant talon came flying towards him. He still had the egg under him and was lying as close to the ground as he could without crushing it. He knew there was no way the dragons were going to miss seeing him but he couldn't help the desire to bury himself in the ground and hide until they went away. 

Where were the two dragons who had brought him here? Why weren't they trying to escape with him again? He would gladly take two over an entire herd. He tried to glance around but didn't see his red and gold companions anywhere. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He still had to try and bargain with the council dragons but it was hard working up enough nerve to actually address them.

Another few breaths and Derek figured he might as well give it a shot. 

"Excuse me," he shouted, no reason not to be polite, at least at first. 

The dragons carried on ignoring him. 

"Excuse me," he tried again, louder this time. "I want to make a deal with you."

The dragon that had been breathing in his face leaned down and unleashed a burst of flame that engulfed Derek. The ground around him instantly caught fire. Derek was so hot he couldn't tell if he was on fire or not. Then suddenly, another of the beasts crashed into the one breathing on him and the flame went out. The ground was still on fire so the attacked stomped down on it to put the flames out. That meant its colossal foot came crashing right through Derek, who was still trying to figure out if he'd been burned or not. The fact that he was still alive enough to think lead him to believe that he was immune to their fire as well. Thank goodness for that.

The two beasts before him were now engaged in a violent brawl and Derek had been not-hit by two tails, several claws, and a wing. He decided it was time to move. They couldn't touch him, they couldn't burn him, nothing was stopping him from running to safety. He still needed to bargin with the dragons, but he was going to hide in the woods until they all calmed the hell down. Derek got to his feet, held the egg more tightly and ran straight through the two dragons fighting in front of him.

Running through two writhing beasts the size of houses was a surreal feeling. The entire time he kept expecting his protection to vanish and find himself suddenly stuck in a dragon's leg, or stomach, but luckily it held and he was suddenly on the other side. Derek had to swerve quickly to avoid a tree. He'd almost forgotten he would feel it if he slammed into something other than a dragon. Further and further into the trees he ran, stopping when he found himself nearly dashing into a pond.

He looked around, and nothing had followed him. For the time being, he was alone with the egg. He laid down gratefully and got his breath back. When he finally felt like he was breathing normally he sat up and dipped his hands into the water, drinking his fill. It was cold and delicious. He didn't know if this was another part of his protection but he was extremely grateful to have found water. 

"If this was you," he said to the egg in its bag, "I appreciate it." There was no response, but he hadn't been expecting one. Around the pond there was soft grass and large bushes. He decided it would be best for him to crawl into one of the bushes and sleep for the night. The dragons had probably scared off all the other creatures in these woods but just in case it was probably best for him to not be lying out in the open while he slept. 

The first bush was far too prickly, the second too dense, but the third he tried was like a miniature weeping willow, from the outside it was completely covered but inside there was plenty of space for him to lie down. 

"Goodnight," he said to the egg. He must be getting lonely if he was now talking to an egg. "Tomorrow morning we'll go back to the dragons and see if they've calmed down. Then I'll try to get Stiles back and you'll be able to go home where you belong," he was starting to drift off but managed to sleepily murmur, "You'll be with your family and I'll see Stiles again. Everything is going to be fine."

After that Derek passed out, hoping that tomorrow would be the day he saw Stiles again.


	15. The Gang's All Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2/16/14-Please, please go back and read chapter 14 again. I thought I was saving a draft but it turns out I accidentally posted instead. I'm sorry for putting up such a short chapter, it was meant to be a rough draft. I've finished it now, so reread it before reading this one. 
> 
> Again, sorry for any confusion. And thank you for reading.

Derek woke with his hands around the bag on his chest. He listened but didn't hear anything moving around outside. The dragons must have frightened off the birds after all; smart birds. He rubbed his eyes and prepared himself for the walk back into the dragons' clearing.

He splashed water in his face and drank from the pond. He didn't have anything to eat and didn't know anything about foraging in a forest. It wasn't exactly a prized skill in a desert community. Since hunting was out what with all the animals gone, he turned and walked back the way he came.

It was difficult, putting one foot in front of the other and walking back to where he knew the dragons wanted to rip him apart, but he had no choice. If he wanted Stiles back, he had to do this. He thought over his time with Stiles, the lunches they shared, the nights they had slept beneath the starts. Replaying their friendship gave him the motivation to keep moving forward.

* * *

"This is definitely not going down as my preferred mode of travel," Stiles yelled over his shoulder at Scott who didn't answer. His eyes were shut tightly and he hadn't said a word since Lena had taken off. Stiles assumed they were in agreement regarding flying. 

"How much longer?" Stiles shouted to Lena. He had no idea how long they had been flying but it felt like days. 

"We will be there in an hour."

"Is that long?" Stiles asked. It was hard to judge time with the wind battering him and Lena's scales cutting into his hands and legs. 

"We've been flying five hours already," Lena answered. "You figure it out."

Stiles closed his eyes and laid his head down, bracing for another hour of speeding through the air. At least it wouldn't take them days to reach Derek. He didn't think he could wait that long.

After flying a while more Stiles chanced a peak over Lena's side. He expected them to still be flying over desert but they were soaring over a forest instead. Where was there a forest in the kingdom? He'd never known of one. It didn't matter, he put his head back down and concentrated on not letting go. 

"There!" Lena roared over the wind. Stiles's head shot up. Below them there was a large clearing growing larger by the second. The blue dragons from the mountains were fighting and taking the trees down as they brawled. Leaves and branches were flying into the daylight. That did not look like a party Stiles wanted to join.

"Is that where we're going? I really don't think that's the best idea. Lena!" he shouted as she began to descend. They were seven humans and one dragon against an entire herd of clearly upset dragons. How did landing seem wise? "We really should think of another plan, this one has flaws. Serious flaws. Un-overlookable flaws. Really. Don't land," Stiles kept shouting but Lena paid him no heed. She flew downwards until she was hovering over the expanding clearing. The dragons below were too preoccupied to notice them and Stiles was grateful. 

He quickly scanned the ground for Derek or the dragons who had taken them. They weren't there. Stiles sighed in frustration. Why weren't they there? He needed to find Derek, and Porter had said Lena would bring them to him. Where was he?? Stiles looked again but all he saw was a frothing sea of blue. No human, no red and gold kidnappers. Who would have thought he'd one day want to see those two stalkers.

"They aren't here," he told Lena. "We're in the wrong place."

"No we're not."

"Yes we are. We're supposed to be wherever Derek is. And the egg, obviously I care about the egg, very important egg. But those two are going to be together and neither are here. So we are in the wrong place."

"No we're not."

"And what makes you so certain of that?"

"I was told to go here. It is the right place."

"Yeah, yeah. Porter gave you super secret instructions and here we are. But they Aren't Here. He gave you bad directions."

She turned and glared at Stiles, her eyes gleaming. 

"Or not," he backpedaled. "Since he's your pal why don't you call him and he can point out the super noticeable red and gold dragons that aren't down there." Stiles was not keen on the idea of dropping down in the middle of a dragon meltdown if Derek wasn't going to be there to greet him. He had not just flown six hours in what felt like a windstorm to not be gifted with a Derek.

"I am waiting for instructions."

"Do you think you'll be getting those soon? Yes, fine, I'll be patient. Quite glaring," Stiles laid quietly and hoped that Porter would pull one of his appearing acts and tell Lena what to do. He'd brought them this far, Stiles was counting on him to bring them the rest of the way. He chanced another look down but whatever had the dragons so riled was still captivating them. Good. Stiles wasn't betting on them getting very far once they dragons noticed them. 

"What was that?" Stiles could have sworn he'd seen a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. He tried, craning his neck this way and that, to find it but couldn't.

"What was what?" Scott asked. 

"I thought I saw gold. Did you see it?" he turned to look at Scott but his best friend had his buried in the scales beneath him and was refusing to look over the edge. 

"Fine, thanks a lot. We aren't going to fall if you look you know."

"I'd just really rather not chance it."

"Well you're missing a hell of a battle down there," Stiles told him. Since he didn't see Derek and Porter had yet to show he'd decided to pick a favorite contender and root for them. He watched as his chosen dragon sideswiped an attacker with his tail; knocked him on his back. At least Stiles had picked a winner. He punched the air but immediately returned his hand to Lena's scales, now was not the time to be casually hanging on. 

"Stiles, cut that out," Guard Stilinski called. He didn't want his son plunging off the side of a dragon because he got distracted.

"Sure thing," Stiles shouted back. He was still craning his neck to follow the fight but he kept his hands firmly on Lena's scales. Where was Derek? Stiles had counted on him being here but so far hadn't seen hide nor hair of him. He knew he was alive. If he wasn't Porter would have said something. Stiles was sure of it.

He kept looking at the fighting below, waiting to see a glimpse of Derek. Perhaps he was underneath all the chaos, laying low and keeping the egg safe. 

"Maybe he's hiding in the woods," Stiles shouted. "Lena, fly over the trees, maybe he's in there."

"How would he have gotten away from the dragons?" Scott shouted back.

"They're distracted. He could have slipped away while they were fighting."

"He has the heir. Do you really think they would let him just slip away?"

"Scott. I love you, but right now you are not helping!" Stiles shouted back. He didn't need this type of negativity. Scott was lucky Stiles couldn't reach him to hit him upside the head. 

"There," Stiles shouted. He had seen red scales, he was sure of it. "The kidnappers are here so Derek has to be too."

"I saw it," Allison said. Stiles was relieved he wasn't just seeing things. If Allison saw it, it was there. 

"Lena, can you communicate with them? Can you ask them where Derek is?" Stiles asked excitedly. 

"There's too many of them. I can't get a clear read on any of them."

Stiles pouted. She didn't sound apologetic about it at all. She probably didn't even care about Derek. 

"Well couldn't you at least try?" Stiles asked again. She ignored him. Useless dragon.

This time when Stiles looked down he didn't look at the dragons, he looked at the trees surrounding them, trying to spot Derek. 

"I see him!" And with that Stiles launched himself, unthinking, from Lena's back.

He had seen Derek in the trees. Derek was walking cautiously toward the clearing, still holding the heir's bag. Relief had flooded through Stiles. Derek was alive. Derek was here. And Stiles could not bear to separated from him a moment longer. The only thought in his mind was of getting to Derek. A bit unfortunate since the fact that he could not fly didn't occur to him until after he took his flying leap.

"Derek!" Stiles shouted as he fell. Over the dragons' raucous noise there was no way for Derek to hear him but he couldn't help trying to catch his attention. Abruptly his earthbound fall was halted by Lena snatching him out of the air. 

"Derek!" he shouted again as he swung from the dragons jaws. He was wriggling to try and get free but Lena was having none of it. She was growling at him without releasing him. 

"I need to get to him. Let me go," Stiles shouted at her. He reached up behind his head to try and free himself. His hand landed on a large fang and he suddenly decided to keep his hand to himself. 

"Stiles, what the hell do you think you are doing?" his father shouted angrily at him. He was displeased but unsurprised by his son's stunt. "You are not a dragon. You cannot fly. So what on earth would possess you to jump off your only ride?" All this was said by a man who had spent much of Stiles's childhood keeping him from leaping of battlements, furniture, and anything else more than two inches off the ground.

"Derek's down there. I'm not. I should be. So, I jump. Problem solved."

"Problem very much not solved, Stiles. There's a rather large middle section of that plan you have distressingly overlooked."

"Yes, well...I would have thought of something," Stiles said petulantly. 

"Yelling 'Oh shit' and flapping your arms midair does not count as thinking of something."

"Fine. Fine," Stiles huffed and hung as indignantly as he could while he was hanging from the jaws of a ticked-off dragon. 

"Lena. Please put Stiles back on here," Scott said. He was getting worried and would much rather have his best friend where he could keep an eye on him. Although the last time he'd been keeping an eye on him he'd taken his flying leap so...

Lena shook her head.

"Hey! Hey! I'm attached here," Stiles shouted as he swung from side to side, arms and legs flying. Was that the sound of ripping fabric? It seemed like the sound of ripping fabric. That wasn't good. As much as he wanted to be close to Derek he was beginning to reconsider his position on the viability of safely reaching him by falling to the ground. As it turned out, he would much rather be gently set on the ground, so if Lena could just refrain from shaking him, that would be great.

"Why not?" Scott asked.

Lena just growled.

"If you put him back up here I'm sure he won't try another flying demonstration. He's not that stupid," Erica said. 

"Yeah, he'll be good this time. Just bring him back up here," Scott pleaded. 

Lena made no move to reseat Stiles. Her attention was focused on the dragons below. They were still too busy fighting to notice their hovering observers but she didn't know how much longer that would last.

"What are you waiting for?" Porter asked. He was now hovering in the air in front of Lena and Stiles. 

Stiles startled and clutched his heart, "You have got to stop doing that. You're shaving years off my life, man."

Porter looked down and the back up at Stiles, "You're hanging hundereds of feet in the air, over a dragon fight, in the jaws of a dragon, and _I'm_ what's taking years off your life?" Porter raised a mocking eyebrow and spoke to Lena instead. 

"The boy below has the egg. You need to get to him."

"Thank you," Stiles interjected, finally someone had the same idea as him. At least Porter would know how to do it safely. Porter shot him a stony look.

"Get down to him," Porter continued, "and stay with the heir."

Lena finally put Stiles back in his seat. She needed to talk to Porter.

"How will we fight off so many others?" Lena asked. "They'll attack us as soon as they notice us."

"Good point," Porter said. "Guess you'll just have to go down and find out. Now, hop to it."

Porter vanished and therefore missed out on Stiles diatribe on just what he thought of that plan. Which was too bad because it was a real beauty.

"Since we're now heading down to your precious Derek, you better be able to stay in your seat." She glared at him as she spoke, clearly expecting to be obeyed. 

Stiles nodded vigorously and clutched tightly at her scales. 

"Good. Now hang on everyone."

That was all the warning they got before she dove for the ground. It seemed that she wanted to get down as quickly as possible so as to give the blue beasts as little chance to notice them as possible. In theory it was a good plan but the application left something to be desired.

Stiles and the guards were having a hell of a time hanging on as the wind tried to rip them off Lena's back. As they plummeted they were hit by the dirt the dragons were kicking up and they flying leaves and bark from the trees being destroyed. All they could do was hunker down closer to Lena's scales to try and avoid getting hit in the face. Letting go long enough to try and block incoming projectiles wasn't exactly an option. 

About fifty feet off the ground they flew right past a dragon's eye and suddenly a burst of flame shot out at them. It missed them by inches but alerted all the others and suddenly Lena was dodging and weaving trying to avoid getting hit. Scott was screaming, Stiles was shouting for Derek, but the sound of roaring dragons and exploding fireballs drowned out what was going on with the rest of the group. For all Stiles knew they weren't even there any more. 

They hit the ground with a bang. Everyone was jolted forward and Stiles's face made contact with Lena's neck. Ignoring the pain he looked around desperately trying to find Derek. He didn't have much time to find him. The dragons were going to overwhelm them soon and so far no miracle had happened to prevent that. 

Flying dirt and pebbles, thrashing wings and tails, stomping feet, and smoke all obscured Stiles vision as he screamed Derek's name. Turning his head frantically from side to side he tried to find his friend. And suddenly, he was there. Shouting for Stiles and stretching out his hand. Running towards him as fast as he could. 

Derek's hand grabbed Stiles's as a flood of flame washed over them.


	16. The King is Revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3/24/14 I have deleted the previous chapter and taken out the Harris/Stiles subplot because it wasn't really working for me. I decided it didn't add anything to the story so I've gone back through and edited it out. I also changed the relationship between Harris and the southern dragons.
> 
> Just so it's clear, the treaty is between the humans (King Harris) and the dragons of the north. As long as the humans maintain control of the southern dragons, the dragons of the north will leave them all alone. So now Harris controls the southern dragons whereas before he didn't. He wants to control the dragons of the north too.
> 
> If anything is confusing please let me know and I will do my best to clarify it.

The southern dragons had blocked the considerable magic of the king's mages. Once the head guard and the first group of soldiers had vanished through the gate the mages's power had been rendered impotent. They had been frantic, trying to open more gates to satisfy the king, but with no success. Harris had marched among them, shouting his displeasure, but it had done him no good. 

No matter how loudly he demonstrated his anger the gates reminded closed to him. He had whirled upon the leader of the southern dragons and told him with deadly quiet that he would soon return and this foolish insolence would be ended. He had kept power over the southern dragons for too long to be defeated by them now. All the mages and soldiers marched back to the palace behind Harris. 

King Harris marched down beneath the palace dungeon and into the treasure room. Two guards holding lighted tourches accompanied him while he stormed toward the artifact he sought. His prize in hand he returned to the top and paraded straight back into the nest of the southern dragons. 

He found their leader first and unleashed the power of his artifact. A new leader could be found later. 

After that he spent the day and night punishing the dragons for their disobedience. He made it clear to them that he was the one who controlled them and such mutiny would not be allowed again. At dawn his men arrived ready to mount the beasts and be transported to the heir at Harris command.

In a clear patch of earth the dragons lined up with the humans on their backs. With bowed heads the king's brown-cloaked mages formed a circle around them and as one cast open a gate that moved every beast and man simultaneously to the air above the heir. One moment they were there, human soldiers sitting ramrod-straight on the bowed backs of their rebuked steeds, the next, the area was clear of them.

* * *

"Help! Help, I'm on fire!" Scott shouted as he frantically patted himself down trying to put out the flames. The flames that weren't actually touching him, or burning him, at all.

"Stop that," Stiles said, trying to get Scott to stop hitting himself, "You are not on fire!" he shouted. Scott wasn't listening to him at all, still convinced he was somehow roasting to a crisp. 

"Fine," Stiles huffed, "I give up. Give yourself bruises, see if I care." 

Allison decided to take matters into her own hands and reached over and kissed Scott. It worked perfectly. He stopped smacking himself and focused on kissing her. 

Stiles turned to Derek, "So, good to see you, glad you're here, how have you been? Why are we not on fire now?" As much as Stiles wanted to throw a party because he was finally with Derek again, he really felt the fire situation needed some explaining. He, Derek, Lena, and all the others were currently surrounded by a tunnel of flame, it was completely engulfing them, and yet they weren't on fire. The flames were passing right through them it seemed and Stiles wanted to know how in the hell that was possible. 

He pulled a huffing and panting Derek onto Lena's back, making sure to keep a tight grip on his hand; now that they were together, he wasn't keen on being separated from Derek. Derek climbed up and sat facing Stiles, perfectly content to keep holding hands. 

"I think the egg is protecting us. It kept me safe from the dragons when the dragons of the north first found us. They tried to claw me, and step on me, and roast me, but everything the tried just went right through me. They couldn't touch me. It made them angry."

"And now that you're with us, it's protecting us too?" Stiles asked. 

"I guess so? I haven't exactly been talking to it. Whatever the reason, I'm just glad it's working on you too," Derek told Stiles. 

"I agree completely," Stiles said adamantly. 

"So what do we do now?" Scott asked, breaking into Stiles and Derek's heartfelt staring contest. Scott had been calmed by Allison and was now looking around curiously at the flames engulfing them. 

"Find out who the egg belongs to and turn it over I guess," Stiles said uncertainly. "But if the dragons are attacking us, turning over the only thing protecting us from them might not be our best plan."

"I came here this morning to try and trade the egg in exchange for the dragons bringing me to you," Derek said. 

"Really?" Stiles said, touched. 

"Of course," Derek replied, "couldn't have you wandering around the mountain by yourself. You've have been eaten for sure."

"Hey," Stiles protested, smacking Derek with the hand that wasn't still clasped in his. "I did just fine in the mountains, only imprisoned once, and no one even tried to eat me. But really, what are we planning to do here? I don't think we are going to get very far reasoning with the dragons. We have what they want, are willing to give it to them and they still want to roast us."

He looked up at the dragons breathing flames on them. 

"Do you think they're getting tired? It can't be easy to keep up a steady breath of flame. Do you think they'll do shifts to keep us covered or eventually just give up?"

"I doubt they've put that much thought into it," Derek said. 

"Fair point," Stiles said. "They'll probably just keep it up till they pass out. Then maybe we can get somewhere with the ones still conscious."

"Why don't we just wait for Porter to show up and ask him?" Scott asked. 

Stiles froze. So much for breaking it to Derek gently. He had been looking at Scott when he'd started talking and now he wasn't willing to turn back around and look at Derek. He could feel Derek's hand tighten around his and knew this wasn't going to go well. Even without looking he could tell Derek was holding himself still enough to be mistaken for a statue. 

"What did he say?" Derek growled. His voice was quietly furious. 

"Um..." Stiles started, still not looking at Derek, "see the thing is-"

"You've been working with Porter!" Derek shouted. "Look at me, Stiles!" he demanded. He had ridden through the desert, been kidnapped, and had planned to bargain away the most precious egg in the kingdom, all for someone working with Porter. All the time he had spent worrying about Stiles now seemed foolish and wasteful. He had been going behind Derek's back the entire time. For all Derek knew, Stiles might have been partners with Porter before he'd even come to the bazaar. He was pissed. 

Finally, Stiles turned around and faced him. "See the thing is that Porter's actually been helping me for a while now and he's the reason that we were able to find you in the first place. He's actually be trying to help us, Derek. He's not a bad guy."

"He has been threatening my family, Stiles. My family! And you're trying to tell me he's a good guy," Derek shouted. He couldn't believe Stiles was trying to vouch for that creep.

"Well, technically I said 'not a bad guy', not 'a good guy'."

This was not the right thing to say to Derek. Stiles could tell right away he had made a rather large tactical error. And he was definitely someone able to admit when they had made a mistake so he tried to fix it by hastily backtracking. 

"What I meant was, has he ever actually threatened your family directly? I know he's being hassling you, but did he ever say he would do anything to your family specifically?" Nope. That wasn't going to make things better. Stiles might do better to just throw himself to the dragons now and save Derek the trouble. 

"Stiles!" Derek roared, now waving their join hands wildly. "You're defending him? Have you lost your mind? He's trying to drive my family out of their rightful place and you're nitpicking?" He couldn't believe the nerve. 

Stiles opened his mouth again. This time he would definitely make things better, "I'm not nitpicking. I'm asking a valid question. You never mentioned what exactly he said he would do to your family. You just told me he was trying to sabotage you. That's the not the same as threatening members of your family." So was there something around here Stiles could use to gag himself? This whole trying to make it better thing was really not going the way he had planned. From the look on Derek's face, somewhere between erupting volcano and run for you life, he wasn't too pleased with what was coming out of Stiles's mouth either. 

"Stiles," he said slowly, "how long have you been working with Porter?" The answer had damn well not be 'since our time at the stalls'. If Stiles had been keeping this from him the entire time he didn't know what he would do. It would probably involve whacking him over the head several times. 

"He first appeared the day you lost it in the desert," Stiles said cautiously. He felt a bit guilty about bringing it up.

"Lost what?" 

"Your mind," Stiles laughed nervously but Derek didn't join him. "He showed up while I was trying to get away from you. He told me to give you the egg and that would make you better. I didn't exactly have a better plan so I listened to him and gave it to you. And if you'll recall, it worked. Then he appeared a couple more times and I figured since he was right before, and I didn't really have anyone else to ask, I might as well listen to him. I didn't do this to hurt you, Derek. I just needed the help," Stiles said. He cautiously reached out and grasped Derek's other hand. He took it as a good sign that Derek let him.

The roar of the flames and the stomping of the dragons around them was nothing compared to the tumult inside Derek. Stiles had been taking help from Porter without telling him. Porter had been threatening his family. Hadn't he? Derek's life at the bazaar felt quite far away at the moment. It almost seemed like someone else's life. But now Porter was helping Stiles and Stiles was still alive, and now they were together. Could he be a good guy? Derek was so confused. 

"Derek?" Stiles asked, not wanting to push him, but wanting to know if things were going to be okay between them.

"Give me a minute," Derek said. He didn't know what he was feeling. It would probably have been easier to figure out somewhere private and quiet instead of on the back of a dragon surrounded by strangers, fire, and pissed-off dragons. 

"Just figure out if you trust me or not," Stiles said, "That's all you've got to do." 

He looked at Derek who had his eyes closed and looked like he was in pain. He wanted to reach out and hug him but refrained. Instead he ran his thumb over Derek's hand. 

"Do you think he could hurry up a bit?" Scott asked loudly. Stiles turned and smacked him on the head. 

"Hush and let him think. He's got enough distractions without you hurrying him along," Stiles told him. 

Derek's mouth quirked into a small smile at that. It seemed like it should be more difficult, figuring out how he felt about Stiles, figuring out if he could forgive him and move past his collaboration with Porter, but it wasn't. In fact, it wasn't something he really had to put any thought into at all. Stiles was his friend. Stiles cared about him. He was honest, and hardworking. Derek trusted him and even though he didn't understand how Porter could possibly be a good guy, if Stiles had taken help from him there must be something Derek was missing. It wasn't possible for Stiles to betray him. He could feel it in his heart that Stiles was, and always would be, loyal to him. So whatever Porter's deal was, he would just have to figure it out as they went along. 

"Okay," Derek said looking up at Stiles.

"What?" Stiles asked, hopefully.

"Okay, I trust you."

Stiles flung himself at Derek and hugged him enthusiastically. They nearly pitched off Lena's back but Scott grabbed the back of Stiles's shirt and kept him and Derek from topping off. 

"Now we need to figure out what to do about the dragons," Derek said.

Stiles looked around, kind of hoping Porter would pop up and help out because he didn't have the first clue about getting enraged dragons to calm down enough to reason with. As he looked around he heard something over the sound of the fire. He looked up, dragons were flying overhead, hovering over the clearing they were in, and roaring their arrival. 

"The southern dragons are here," Scott shouted. The soldiers all tensed. The king would be angry they had come into contact with the egg and hadn't tried to bring it to him. He wouldn't care that that contact had only occurred a few moments ago.

"They must be here for the egg too," Stiles said. "The mages must have been able to locate it."

"Oh good, more flame breathers are here. That's so much better," Scott said. "And look at that. King Harris and the army. Fantastic."

"At least they won't be able to touch us either," Derek said.

"How can you be sure?" Boyd asked as he looked up at the new arrivals. 

"When I was with the two who kidnapped me, they said they couldn't touch me. It was the only reason they kept me around. Otherwise they would have taken the egg for themselves and left me."

"Well, I for one am very grateful they left you alive," Stiles told Derek as they both looked into the sky at the dragons hovering above them. 

The newcomers had formed a noisy circle above the blue dragons on the ground. They were out of range of the beasts on the ground. Now that the southern dragons and King Harris had arrived the dragons of the north had stopped fighting amongst themselves. No one could touch the humans on the ground but the southern dragons didn't know that yet. King Harris had his eyes locked on Stiles, now easy to see since no one was breathing fire on to him.

"Is it just me, or does he look like he wants to eat me?" Stiles asked Derek. He couldn't make out the exact expression on Harris's face but somehow he could just tell the vibe he was putting off wasn't one that bode well for Stiles's continued well-being.

"Hold your ground, men," Guard Stilinski called. He and the other soldiers had drawn their swords at the arrival of Harris and the southern dragons. "Protect Stiles," he ordered. Harris would be coming for them if he could. They held the egg he wanted. While he and his men could fight, Stiles was unarmed and untrained. He would be the most vulnerable. Derek seemed like someone who would be able to hold his own. Guard Stilinski counted on him to help protect his son as well.

Having their enemy out of range didn't stop the dragons of the north from shooting columns of flame into the sky. It seemed to only encourage them to try harder to hit their targets. None of the southern dragons returned fire. They were strangely calm as they flapped their massive wings to hold themselves aloft.

As Stiles stared at the beasts flying above him he realized they weren't calm; they were resigned. These were creatures who had accepted their fate, puppets waiting for Harris's orders. They didn't look like dragons that had the will to fight for themselves any longer. They were now, more then ever, completely under Harris's thumb. 

On the other hand, the dragons on the ground looked furious and ready to fight to the last scale to keep their heir for themselves. Which made sense to Stiles since it belonged to them. If Harris got it he would turn it on them and bring them under his rule as well. He didn't think the dragons in the air exactly made great poster children for the wonderful world of Harris. The dragons of the north were right to look as fearsome as possible.

"What do you think Harris is going to do? Attack?" Scott asked Stiles.

"Probably. If he wants to control the dragons of the north he needs the heir. Most likely he's just planning how he's going to get to us," Stiles said.

"Can he do that? What about all the dragons around us, how's he going to get past them?" Scott asked.

"Look at those dragons," Derek said, pointing at the sky. "They look much worse than normal. Harris must have more power over them than we knew. Whatever he's using on them will probably work on the dragons of the north too. Especially now they don't have a king to give them extra power."

"Oh good. Harris with heretofore unknow power. That should be good for us," Stiles said, sticking his tongue out at the thought.

* * *

King Harris looked down at the scene below, contemplating his descent. He had easily spotted his guards on the back of a dragon and assumed the egg was with them. Unbeknownst to anyone he had had the mages cast an impenetrable barrier around him so he would be impervious to the fire and claws of the many dragons. He felt no such protection necessary for his men.

He still had the artifact with him. It would be the work of a moment to destroy any dragon that got in his way as he moved toward the egg. The other soldiers and their beasts would attack the dragons of the north and subdue them. He smiled and crouched lower upon his ride.

"Attack!" King Harris roared. He directed his dragon downward and it descended swiftly, on a direct course for Stiles and the egg.

"Aim for the humans," Harris ordered the dragon he was riding. It made for them as he commanded, weaving in and out of bursts of flame, dodging the beating wings and slicing claws trying to bring it down. Harris had his eyes locked on Stiles, and evil gleam in his eye. He was so close to victory he could taste it. As soon as he took the egg he would be the most powerful person in the land, all dragons would bow before him. He considered dispatching a few northern beasts on the way down with his artifact but decided to save it for later, should he need to put any dissenters in line.

Almost there. He was almost there. His hand was reaching out for Stiles, ready to grab him as soon as he was within reach. The boy had the egg. Once he was in his hand he would make him turn over the egg. His fingers were reaching out greedily, tongue licking his lips in anticipation. He was almost there.

The southern dragons and their human riders were now fast descending on the dragons of the north who rose to meet them. The humans had been given pouches filled with small balls of magic which they hurled with accuracy at the blue dragons. After a dragon had been hit several times it would fall to the ground unconscious, it's large body landing with an earth-shaking crash, but not before taking out a southern dragon of its own. 

The group of humans and Lena stayed put on the ground as the bodies from the two dragon sides plummetted to earth around them. Lena was only obliged to move when one blue beast landed on top of her. It was a most peculiar feeling Stiles decided, being one minute out in the open air with the sun shining down of the carnage, and the next being in the blackness of a dragon's stomach. He was glad when Lena move herself back into the daylight. 

The dragon covering them had caused Harris to momentarily lose sight of them but he recovered quickly. He had one hand outstretched and as soon as his dragon flew over the waiting party and clamped his hand around Stiles's collar. He would have flown away with him if not for the fact that his hand had closed around air and he came away with no part of Stiles at all. 

Furiously, he turned back around and made to try the same move again, but again he could not close his hand around Stiles or his clothing. 

"What is the meaning of this?" he screamed at Stiles as his dragon's wings beat the air around him. "Why can I not grab you, insolent boy?"

"The heir to the dragon king is protecting me you horrible pain in the -"

"What my son means to say, King Harris, is that we are under the protection of the next king of the dragons and for that reason we are all untouchable," Stiles's father said, glaring at Stiles who had Scott's hand clamped around his mouth. He was gesticulating his displeasure wildly, and by association so was Derek. 

"Magic can be fought with magic," Harris shouted as the wind from his dragon's wing whipped his cloak about him. 

"What the hell does that mean?" Stiles asked. He had licked Scott's hand and thereby been set free. 

"Probably nothing good," Scott said. All the humans were tense as they looked at Harris, unsure of what he would do. They had not drawn their weapons for metal would do no good against magic.

"I really hope this egg has thought things through," Stiles said. "I don't want Harris to magic us all into next week."

"I doubt he would want us still alive next week," Derek said. 

"Not helping," Stiles told him.

"Look out," Stiles's father shouted at the king turned some strange object in his hand toward them. A burst of magic shot from the center of the artifact and headed straight for Stiles. 

Immediately, Derek lept upon Stiles, covering Stiles's body with his own, protecting him as best he could from whatever unknown horror was coming their way. Derek braced himself, waiting to feel pain, but none came. He wasn't blasted away into nothingness. He wasn't hurled bodily from Lena. Nothing happen. Slowly he raised his head and looked at Harris who was furiously and fruitlessly blasting magic at them.

"You saved me," Stiles said, his voice full of wonder. He knew with certainty now that Derek had forgiven him, there had been no hesitation as he had put himself between Stiles and danger. 

"Always," Derek told him. 

"Thanks," Stiles told Derek and the bag Derek carried. The egg had just saved them all yet again.

"How dare you defy me!" King Harris screamed at them, waving his artifact through the air.

"Actually," Porter said calmly from where he had appeared beside Harris, "I defy you." And with that he plucked the artifact from Harris's hand and ground it to dust.

"What? How? What?" Harris stared gobsmacked at Porter, his hand still frozen where it had been when he'd last held the artifact. 

"That is something you should never have had. I was simply setting the world to rights," Porter told him. "And now," he turned his head to look at the fighting dragons, "I think I'll go take care of that little scuffle too."

"Little scuffle? Little scuffle? How in the hell is that," Stiles waved his hand to where the two sides were tearing each other out of the air, "A 'little' anything?"

"I think we have underestimated Porter's abilities up to this point," Allison said. 

"Agreed," Erica said as Body and Issac nodded. 

Everyone was looking at Porter now. He had walked calmly through the air towards the melee, looking for all the world like a man out for a casual stroll, and raised his right hand. The dragons froze. As soon as Porter had raised his hand all fighting had ceased. The confused beasts now hung in the air, completely immobilized, in exactly the positions they had been fighting in, claws and fangs still locked in battle. 

"Yep. Definitely underestimating him," Stiles nodded.

"I'm sick of your fighting," he told the dragons as he moved his hand slowly downward. As his hand moved so did the dragons, all of them drifting gently down to earth. His hand slashed sideways through the air and all the dragons separated from one another and faced him, still unable to move on their own. 

"And you," Porter said, turning to face Harris whose own dragon was now in line with the others, "You are no longer to be in control of any dragons: north, south, or from the moon. You have had power over them for far too long. And no more shall you harvest the eggs of the southern dragons. We will come to collect the ones you have already taken."

"Are there dragons on the moon?" Scott asked, excitedly. Allison hushed him.

Porter now turned to face the dragons with the air of a teacher addressing naughty schoolchildren. 

"Your differences and inability to compromise led to the war that ripped the dragon kingdom apart. It is high time it was knit back together. The old king did not wish to see our two halves reunited but he is gone and reunited they shall be."

Porter looked around the torn-up clearing, eyes searching like laser beams as though he could look through every being and object in his path. His eyes settled on his targets.

"Come forward," he ordered. After he spoke two dragons, now under their own power, crawled slowly to the forefront and knelt before Porter. Their heads were bowed and their wings folded tightly against their sides. They looked as though they meant to put off an air of remorse and sorrow but Stiles thought they just looked pissed at getting caught. He was throughly glad he wasn't the one Porter was gazing so sternly at. 

"You two, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Porter asked, like a parent scolding a child.

"Well," the female began. It was the two red and gold southern dragons who had invaded Derek's mind and later kidnapped him while leaving Stiles in the dust. Neither Derek nor Stiles was too pleased to see them again. 

Porter interrupted her, "You filled the mind of the one who now holds the heir with false fear, made him turn upon his companion, rent them apart and stole the heir of the dragons king for yourself. What did you think you were going to do with it? Did your piteously small minds truly believe that you would be able to control the king of the dragons? Did you think yourselves capable of harnessing such power for yourselves? Why do you all believe that the dragons king is someone that _any_ of you can control? Did it never occur to you that the one who could rule such fearsome beasts must not be the most fearsome of you all," he looked directly at Harris, "and certainly not a creature a cruel, small-minded human could ever hope to rule."

The two dragons remained silent, there was nothing for them to say.

"Why did you do it?" Porter asked the dragons at his feet.

They were silent.

"Why?" he repeated, his voice like a blade's edge, ready to slice through whatever arguement they put forth.

"We wished to take the egg for ourselves to free our people from the rule of the human King Harris. He ordered us to bring the egg to him but we refused."

"While I admire your tenacity, I do not approve your methods. While you flooded Derek's mind with falsehood the violence that caused between him and the other human almost caused the egg to be harmed. The heir should have been your priority, not your own desire to claim it."

Well at least Derek now knew what had happened to him in the desert, and why the dragons had seemed so familiar. He still wasn't over his guilt from that incident but it helped to know without doubt that someone had been goading him, that he hadn't attacked Stiles without outside provocation.

Stiles used his free hand to rub Derek's shoulder. He knew it couldn't be easy for Derek to hear about what had happened that day in the sand. It would take time, but he would help Derek to understand that Stiles forgave him, had done so long ago, and was going to be by his side no matter what, for a long time to come.

"I am going to release you now. Do not fight, do not move. We have much to discuss," Porter told the dragons. He moved his hand again and all the dragons found themselves free. The humans who had been riding the southern dragons were now lined up together behind Harris.

The dragons shifted their weight from side to side, grumbling but not moving from where they stood. Porter turned to look at Harris and his troops. 

"You I will let go later. There are things that I still need to make clear to you," his voice was a threat. If the men could have moved, they would have flinched. 

He turned back to the dragons, "Once all dragons lived in the mountains. Again this shall be true. We are going to return together and no more shall any among us be ruled by man. You will be ruled by your king, and your king alone. We will have much to discuss when we return to the mountain."

"We?" Jackson spoke up. Lydia used her wing to push his head back down but Porter's attention was already on them.

"Yes, we. You do not think I should return with you?" Porter questioned.

"You just said we wouldn't be ruled by man. And you're a man. So..." Jackson kept his eyes on the ground as he spoke. It was easy to see that he didn't want to keep talking, but he also hadn't been able to ignore a direct question from Porter.

"Do not be fooled, I may look like a man, but I can assure you I am not," Porter said.

"Then what are you?" the words were out of Stiles's mouth before he even realized he was speaking. As soon as he heard them he buried his head in Derek's chest as though that would stop Porter from realizing he'd spoken. 

Porter turned and looked calmly at Stiles and the others. He seemed to straighten up even more as he stared Derek down. His eyes flicked to the bag still slung around Derek and then up to Derek's face. Slowly he walked to Derek, stopping right in front of him. He spoke.

"I am the dragon king."

Nothing moved. No sound was made. Even the breeze seemed to stop blowing. Stiles appeared to have missed a memo somewhere because he let out a huge gasp as he pointed excitedly at Porter. 

"You, you!" he shouted, "You've been the dragon king this whole time and you didn't feel the need to mention that! You were popping up all along our ride in the desert and you didn't think you being the dragon king was important information? You couldn't have slipped it into conversation somewhere along the way? You could have just magicked us all into the mountains, dropped yourself off with the nearest dragons and sent us home again. Derek didn't need to get kidnapped, we didn't need to wander around the mountain," he gestured at himself, his father, and the soldiers. "Seriously, what is your problem?"

"Stiles, shut up," Scott hissed at him. He smiled at Porter as though if Porter just looked into his sunny grin long enough he would forget Stiles's outburst. 

"No, I won't. This guy could have brought us to the dragons of the north, from the bazaar I might add, and brought us back home safe in like two seconds, but instead he let's us wander the desert for five days."

"Wandering implied you didn't have a direction," Porter interrupted.

"That's what you're going to focus on?!" Stiles looked like someone was trying to explain why their breaking of all his merchandise was somehow his fault. 

"Shut up," Scott pleaded but Stiles paid him no heed.

A muffled snort could be heard and Stiles whipped his head to look at Derek, "Are you laughing at me?" he asked in a mock-scandalized tone.

"No, not at all. I was just-" Derek broke off as he was overcome with another laughing fit. Of course Stiles would be tenacious enough to tell off the king of the dragons. His utter lack of concern regarding who he was addressing was just too much for Derek and he couldn't help but laugh. Stiles slapped him jokingly and stuck out his tongue. 

"No, I'm sorry. I think it's cute," Derek said when he finally got his breath back.

"Oh, well in that case. Porter, what were you thinking?" Stiles started again, hoping to set Derek off. It didn't work.

"I needed to be sure of my choice," Porter told him.

"Choice of what?" Stiles asked.

"I wish for the dragons to return to the mountains of the north, where they may live free and united. But as king I also understand that it is important to maintain a good relationship with the humans of this world. To do that I require a human liaison. I chose you and Derek to fill this role but I needed to see who you truly are, needed to be sure I had made the right choice. So I brought myself into your possession and brought the two of you together."

"So this was all a test," Stiles clarified. "Did we pass?" he asked eagerly. All thoughts of anger towards Porter seemed to have taken a backseat to the possibility of passing the test of a dragon king.

"Yes. You, Stiles, showed perseverance, loyalty, and just a moment ago you demonstrated a considerable lack of regard for my power. You will not be one afraid to speak his mind. And I believe you will always speak for the good of your people. That is a quality I admire."

He turned and looked at Derek, "You showed bravery, loyalty, and a willingness to complete a task you did not need to endure even in the face of unreasonable terror," here he turned his head and glared his head at the two red and gold kidnappers. They had looked up to listen to his talk with the two humans but quickly bowed their heads again. 

"Of course I had to endure it," Derek said. "I had to help Stiles get you home."

"No, you did not. I was not found in your possession, I had no relation or claim to you whatsoever, and yet you never hesitated. You never for a moment considered leaving Stiles to undertake the task of my safe return alone. Nor did you try to take the egg for yourself. You have many admirable qualities, Derek. Always remember this."

Porter held out his hand, "And now, I ask that you hand my egg over. I will take things from here."

Derek nodded his head, still shocked from Porter's words and the sincerity with which they had been spoken. The king of the dragons thought him worthy, thought him brave and admirable. A warmth, a feeling of gratitude and relief, was flooding through Derek's chest, moving through every vein and filling him with a lightness he had not known before. Carefully he grasped the bag's strap and pulled it over his head. Once it was free, he extended the bag to Porter who took it reverently. 

Grasping the bag with both hands Porter took a step back and bowed to Derek and Stiles. They both bowed back. 

"I have much to sort out with my people, the wounds of war will not be so quickly healed. When I have need of you, I will find you." With that, Porter turned and walked back to his people, pausing along the way to stop in front of King Harris who was still frozen along with his men.

Derek and Stiles couldn't hear what Porter was telling the king, but from the look on his face it was nothing he wanted to hear. 

"He must be laying down the law," Stiles whispered to Derek.

"Better him than us," Derek told him.

"What's going to happen to us now?" Scott asked.

"What do you mean?" Issac asked.

"Well, we were all obviously working with Stiles and none of us tried to give the egg to Harris. Isn't he going to be pretty pissed about that when we go back?"

"Don't worry, Scott," Stiles's father said, "I'll make sure nothing happens to you." 

"Guys, don't worry," Stiles said. "Derek and I are human liaisons to the dragon king. You really think Harris is going to mess with any of you if we tell him not to? You'll be fine."

"But the king will be in the mountains. How is that going to help protect us?" Scott asked.

"I'll just tell Harris, if he gives you trouble, I'll call Porter down to light his ass on fire," Stiles said, unconcernedly.

"You don't have the power to do that. Do you?" Scott asked.

"Probably not, no. But Harris doesn't need to know that," Stiles said.

Allison just rolled her eyes at him and Erica gave him a conspiratorial smirk. She usually approved of less orthodox methods of getting things done.

"Either way, I just want to get home. This has been one hell of an journey," Derek said.

"Sounds good to me," Stiles looked at Lena who was calmly watching her king, "Can you give us a lift home? I really don't feel like walking back."

She looked annoyed but nodded her head. "I will bring you home."

"See," Stiles looked at the group, "being human liaison to the dragon king comes with perks. Maybe she can fly us to a nice vacation spot first. Get a little rest in before we get back to work at the bazaar."

"Don't push it, Stiles," his father warned him, "She's being generous enough just bringing us home." Lena preened at the praise and got ready to launch herself into the air.

All her riders got themselves ready for take off, gripping her scales tightly. Everyone but Stiles who was gripping Derek tightly. He could already tell, this was going to be a much nicer ride than the one before.

Stiles and Derek had come a long way and their bond was stronger for it. They would have a lot to talk about when the got home, what they'd done while they were separated, and Stiles's couldn't wait. Being the human liaisons would be good for the two of them. If nothing else it would certainly keep their lives interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much to all the people who have been following along while this story was being written. I appreciate your support and your patience. Thank you for sticking with me through all the different changes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments welcome.


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